Ice Cube’s production company has the comedy handbook on urban life plight. With films like Friday and its’ many sequels, First Sunday, and even Barbershop, there’s been no limit to subject matter untested portraying life ‘in the hood.’ ‘Lottery Ticket’ is just the next logical chapter.
What would you do with $350 million dollars? For young Kevin Carson (Bow Wow – TV’s Entourage) it’s not about spending it, he’s gotta survive 3 days in the hood before he can cash the ticket. Chased by goons, clawed at by money hungry ‘hoochies’, and learning life’s lessons courtesy of a wise old shut in, the movie just maneuvers text book and typifies the ‘life lesson’ comedy.
Joined by his best friend and childhood bosom buddy Benny (Brandon T. Jackson – Tropic Thunder), Kevin traverses a myriad of problems to arrive at a conclusion which is not a far stretch for the grounded character he is portraying. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, has a full-time job, pays the bills for his elderly Grand Ma (portrayed soulful and sweetly by Loretta Devine -Waiting To Exhale), and even helps a seemingly harmless shut in that everyone fears is a serial killer living below them – what do you think he’s going to do with his newfound riches? He’s so responsible it seems odd that the clichéd rendezvous with the gold-digging tramp would even happen. And the film takes itself too serious at times. At a crossroad of learning friendship, you’re forced to endure a conversation between Kevin & Benny as they wax eloquent about the philosophies of money and the power of change and responsibility. I also took issue with Ice Cube’s character Mr. Washington, the gray haired aged shut-in doling out advice and fight training to Kevin Mr. Miyagi style. The character was true enough, the problem was 40 year old Ice Cube horribly made up to look like a 60+ year old man. It almost seemed like mockery of an old aging black man. It was very difficult to see through that, and made the character he was portraying seem less believable.
I will give credit where it’s due, and that goes to the film makers. The visual execution of Kevin realizing he was holding the winning ticket is surreal. A combination of vertigo, panic, pleasure and release is shown on screen to make you feel the anxiety and ultimately the realization.
The payoff within the film lies in the strange and eccentric supporting characters. There are some great laughs courtesy of the stereotypical Reverend portrayed by Mike Epps (The Hangover), Terry Crews (Idiocracy) as the thug driver & protector, and Charlie Murphy (TV’s Chapelle Show) as the resident information trafficker. If an urban comedy with outlandish personalities is your cup of tea, Lottery Ticket delivers in spades…no pun intended.
Rating: 
Lottery Ticket is rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and drug reference, some violence and brief under age drinking. Running Time: 95 minutes
Pssst, its $370 million