The
Lottery Ticket
Bow Wow stars as Kevin - a hard working teen who dreams of designing
sneakers for a living, but has to settle for working at Foot Locker
while trying to take care of his Grandmother (Loretta Devine). Grandma
loves playing the lottery every week, and the entire city is captivated
with the chance to win $370 million. Of course, Kevin is not a big
believer, but promises Grandma he will buy her normal tickets on his
way home. Once there, Kevin decides to take a chance, and wins.
However, instead of getting that big check and going on a trip around
the world, it's Fourth of July weekend, and Kevin must survive until
Tuesday to cash in the ticket, but he's being pursued by everyone who
wants a loan, has a business idea, and decides to befriend him after
previously treating him like dirt. One guy even thinks he can steal the
ticket and claim the winnings for himself.
Will Kevin make it through the weekend?
Will he discover his true friends and those who care about him for his
heart instead of his impending bank account size?
The Lottery Ticket should be a lighthearted
and goofy movie, but it takes several dark turns that aren't necessary
and ruin the film. Sure, director Erik White and writer Abdul Williams
bring some silly situations to the movie, and it becomes very
cartoonish at times, but that's much easier to enjoy than the overly
phony platitudes they insert about how Kevin needs to give back to the
neighborhood and the violent aspects of The Lottery Ticket
(when you see what token he gives back to the neighborhood, you'll see
what I mean).
The Lottery Ticket gets too scary and dark at
times as local tough guy and ex-con Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe, a
graduate of Rockville's Magruder High School) is hunting down Kevin and
his friends to beat him up, steal the lottery ticket and claim the
winnings as his own out of revenge for an earlier incident in the
movie.
Then, as if that isn't bad enough, the local mafia-like Godfather,
Sweet Tee (Keith David), tries to muscle in on the action, which also
darkens the tone.
The Lottery Ticket should be a fantasy and
wish fulfillment kind of movie. This stuff, plus all of the imposed
drama between Kevin, gal pal Stacie (Naturi Naughton) and best bud
Benny (Brandon T. Jackson), along with a sad story about the local
hottie, Nikki Swayze (Teairra Mari), who wants to cozy up to any
successful guy, which adds a very desperate, calculating nature to her
character, is all downer material.
The Lottery Ticket needs to lighten up.
The Lottery Ticket is rated PG-13 for sexual
content, language including a drug reference, some violence and brief
underage drinking.
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