You might have seen the trailer for The Luckiest Man in America recently, but the entire thing was new to me. It is based on the real life events surrounding a man that appeared on Press Your Luck, a game show in the US.
The movie is now on VoD, and I was very intrigued by it. I watched it last night. It’s a very interesting story.
The Luckiest Man in America stars Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, Shamier Anderson, David Strathairn, Brian Geraghty, Patti Harrison, Johnny Knoxville, and Maisie Williams.
The Story
The story is:
May 1984. An unemployed ice cream truck driver steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a secret: the key to endless money. But his winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives uncover his real motivations.
As I said, I knew nothing about the original story, but Wrenage informs me he watched the events in real time when it happened.
We open in a casting room, with members of the public auditioning for the game show, Press Your Luck. They call a name, and Larson (Hauser) goes in and sits down. He says it’s a dream to be on the show.
It turns out he’s not the guy they called, but the producer, Bill Carruthers (Strathairn), catches up with him and tells him he can be on the show. Obviously… or it would have been a very short movie.
There’s something ‘off’ about Larson, but no one seems to see it, until he starts to win at the game. Contestants have to answer questions to win turns on the Press Your Luck machine. They can win big or lose all their money.
At first he loses, but then start to win and win big. The average contestant wins about $10,000, but Larson start to double that, then triple it. When asked if he wants another go, he just carries on.
The production team soon learn something is wrong, or Larson is just The Luckiest Man in America.
Based On A True Story
Afterwards I read up on what happened in The Luckiest Man in America, and it is a fascinating story. I will say though – don’t read up about it first, just go into the movie blind, like I did. As things unfolded, it just got more and more bizarre.
The production team accused Larson of cheating, but technically, it wasn’t cheating. I’m not going to give away what he was up to, but it was all the production team’s fault.
Larson was an interesting person in real life, and someone who was into ‘get rich quick’ schemes.
In high school, he would sell marked-up candy bars to his fellow classmates. When he was older, he used to open bank accounts, that offered a $500 reward for joining, take the money and close them.
He even opened a business in the family name, and fired himself to collect unemployment insurance. The list goes on and on.
After you have seen The Luckiest Man in America, look him up.
Hauser plays Larson really well, apart from a dodgy wig, but he comes across brilliantly. This is shown when they show the real footage of the show mid-end credits. I couldn’t place Hauser at first, but then I remembered he was in Cobra Kai.
Overall
I haven’t spoiled The Luckiest Man in America because I want you to enjoy it like I did. Going into a movie blind is great when you have no idea where the story will go, but you are fascinated by the characters.
There are a couple of things I didn’t like about the movie. Firstly, it’s set in the 1980s. Now, as we know, the 80s were one of the greatest decades ever, but the production team for the movie really wants you to know it’s the 80s.
There’s one guy doing a Rubik’s Cube, there are bottles of Perrier water everywhere. It seems to be trying too hard and becomes annoying because it is so blatant.
The other thing was the swearing. I know that’s a weird thing to say, but I just felt that the swearing was mostly unnecessary. Maybe I’m becoming a prude in my older age, but it just annoyed me a little.
One good thing about the movie was that they kept Maisie Williams’ accent British.
Overall, The Luckiest Man in America was an interesting story, and I enjoyed how it played out. The ending, as in the very last scene, was odd, but I didn’t mind it that much. It was more about following Larson’s incredible run and sticking it to the man.
I give The Luckiest Man in America a solid 3 out of 5. You can find it on VoD.
