‘The Jackpot’ review: talented actor saves a poor laugh movie
Director: Esteban Miras | Script: Esteban Miras | Cast: Sinan Eroglu (Rico), Nicolette van Dam (Samantha), Egbert Jan Weeber (Maurice), Pierre Bokma (Robert), Tim Haars (Tony) and others | Playing time: 93 minutes | Year: 2024
In recent years, movies about (the flaws of) the rich have been very popular. movies like Parasite, Knives out, Sadness triangle in From Tatta’shave contributed to this trend. These types of productions simply attract audiences, so it is no surprise that the Netherlands is responding to this. With such opportunism, one would expect rushed, run-of-the-mill nonsense, but talent often comes from unexpected sources.
The young couple Rico and Samantha live in poverty. Sam stays home to take care of the baby, while Rico makes a living as a personal trainer. It’s perfect for that; He has the body and the charisma. One day, he comes home to find Sam watching the $100 million lottery drawing. And damn, they just win! The new millionaires solemnly promise not to change, despite their wealth.
Let’s jump to twelve years later and what a surprise: they live like kings in France. Rico has traded in his athletic figure for a paunch, Samantha has more plastic than a McDonald’s toy, and her son is a spoiled brat. In their imperial villa they have ostriches, goats, violinists in the bathroom and many other extravagant things they have spent their money on.
But no matter how much, even a hundred million can run out and Rico ends up under the financial direction of none other than his neighbor Maurice. And those two can’t stand each other; Maurice thinks Rico is an exhibitionist jerk and Rico thinks Maurice is boring.
Maurice pressures Rico to tell Samantha that they are bankrupt, but that proves quite difficult. Rico doesn’t want to hurt her, but the bomb really explodes when it turns out she’s pregnant! And since she has reshaped herself in this way, it is a high-risk pregnancy and should not be exposed to stress, such as financial worries.
What follows is a predictable laugh film full of jokes recycled from previous media. Anyone with a good memory will recognize certain humor in advertisements, movies or old series. There’s not much wrong with the jokes themselves, but there’s very little creativity in crafting Rico’s ridiculous lifestyle.
However, it is The jackpot It’s not as bad as it seems. This is mainly due to the great talent of Sinan Eroglu, who in recent years has proven to be one of the great (comedian) talents of the Dutch film industry. Although his films were mediocre, he himself was often a bright spot. This also applies this time. As a lead actor, he increases the entertainment value significantly.
It’s a shame Eroglu doesn’t get better scripts, because he certainly has the potential to break through internationally. Now he is forced to make stupid and unoriginal jokes. He does it well, but the humor itself doesn’t improve.
Furthermore, this film is exactly what you would expect from a mainstream Dutch production; Technically competent, but not very creative and with a script that ranges from mediocre to terrible. When an actor stands out above the rest, that says it all. Unfortunately, that happens occasionally.