‘The Luckiest Man In America’ Review – Should You Press Your Luck With This One?
For once, we have something without violence, blood, guts, or chills, but that’s not to say The Luckiest Man in America is without its thrills. As a character drama, it brings a lot to its gaming table, and much of that stuff is served up by the star, i.e., the contestant running said table like he’s at a casino, Paul Walter Hauser.
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Hauser plays Michael Larson, the real-life player who won a record-setting amount on the famous daytime game show Press Your Luck. Larson did this by outsmarting their system. An avid viewer, he was studying the game at home and realized there was a repeating pattern on the board. When he went on the show in the 1980s, only five alternating patterns of prizes and Whammies flashed at intervals.
Aside from one turn, Larson was able to keep control of the board and win $110,237. The people in the control room, led by David Strathairn, the showrunner, gradually got suspicious and made increasingly paranoid attempts to sabotage Larson before he could collect his epic bounty.
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This American-Brazilian co-production takes liberties with the true story. In Iron Claw fashion, co-writer/director Samir Oliveros packs as many aspects of Larson’s life as he can into 90 minutes when they take place over a lifetime. And in some cases, he makes things up, including Larson driving cross-country and living out of his old beaten-up ice cream truck.
Larson also makes friends and enemies out of everyone around him in the studio. Some of the latter include CBS employees who want to keep their jobs. He rubs everybody differently, and often the wrong way, but Larson is played like an affable, if desperate, oaf who has reasonable motivations. He’s going through a divorce and wants his little girl to see him win big on TV.
These are more of the embellished elements in the picture, but Hauser works with it all to the best of his ability. He has mostly been a supporting player in comedic roles in films like Cruella and streaming series like Cobra Kai. In his spare time, he is a big wrestling fan, and his fame gives him the chance to live out his boyhood dream – short of a spot on a WrestleMania card – by goofing off at shows run by indie promotion Major League Wrestling.
In The Luckiest Man in America, Hauser shows there is more to him than that. He really can disappear as much as possible into a character and, more importantly, take control of the proceedings. He is one of the most praiseworthy parts of this movie, and he might have an Oscar-worthy performance in him someday. His portrayal of Larson doesn’t quite reach those heights for me, but it is a start.
He might have to stay in his comfort zone and play John Belushi or Chris Farley, which has been talked about, or Fatty Arbuckle (a role Farley was up for at the time of his death) in a biopic, but if the script is written well enough, I wouldn’t be shocked if Hauser was up for a few awards for his work.
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Performances aside, I’m scratching my head as to why this film is getting such a limited release and why it has to run theatrically at all. I believe in supporting theaters and independent cinema when Hollywood is always more of the same, woke slop or not. However, releasing for two weeks on a limited basis to make a few pennies is a waste of time and effort when The Luckiest Man could have easily been lucky enough to land on streaming and made a bigger splash.
Its cast, the take on true events, and visual flair are the kind of combo Netflix would do backflips over and put front and center on their home screen. I can see it now showing up in everyone’s recommendations with “we think you’ll like this” in fine print, accompanied by a preview with Hauser yelling “STOP!” playing on a loop, and spending ten weeks in the top ten.
You will probably miss its brief theatrical window, but you won’t lose anything by waiting to stream or rent it. Your curiosity might be rewarded either way.
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The Luckiest Man in America
PROS
- Paul Walter Hauser
- Visual flair that brings out the colorful sets
- Some surreal shots give the game board a monstrous presence
- Haley Bennett in a small unrecognizable role
CONS
- At 90 minutes, it still drags in spots
- Theatrical release is counterproductive
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