Paul Feig relishes the audience support for his recent action-comedy film Jackpot!, but he still has trouble understanding the unflattering critical response.
The acclaimed comedy director was Jesse Tyler Ferguson‘s guest on the Dinner’s on Me podcast episode that was released Tuesday. During the chat, Feig shared that he loved making the Amazon MGM Studios feature that stars John Cena and Awkwafina, even if critics seemed to have mistaken expectations for what Jackpot! was aiming to accomplish.
“Now I can be happy because we’ve been the No. 1 movie worldwide on Amazon for four weeks in a row now, which is fantastic,” Feig said. “But the critics excoriated us. I mean, took the biggest dump on this movie. All I can figure, from the reviews I read, I think they were trying to find a lot of meaning in this premise.”
The filmmaker continued with a laugh, “Guys, the only reason I did this premise is because it’s a Jackie Chan movie. It’s just a launchpad for a very funny person to be completely in danger and not know what’s going on, and then there’s sweetness, and you find out their backstories. But don’t get mad at me because I didn’t do some polemic on the state of America today. I don’t want to do that. I’m a comedy guy.”
John Cena (left) and Awkwafina in Jackpot!
Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Jackpot! currently holds a 31 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. It centers on Katie (Awkwafina), a former child star who wins a massive lottery jackpot and teams with protection agent Noel (Cena) to defend herself, as the masses are legally allowed to kill her until sundown to collect the money.
In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, critic Frank Scheck writes that the movie “erupts into a nonstop series of action set pieces that manage the neat trick of being as funny as they are brutally violent.”
He adds, “It’s all tremendously silly, but somehow it works, thanks to combat choreography that would make Jackie Chan proud and the introduction of America’s premiere new comedy team, Awkwafina and John Cena.”
Feig, who is known for such hits as Bridesmaids and The Heat, has wrapped production on A Simple Favor 2, with Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick returning for the sequel that is scheduled for release in the spring.
THR reported earlier on Tuesday that Feig is set to direct Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in a feature adaptation of the best-selling 2022 thriller novel The Housemaid for Lionsgate.
During a conversation last year with THR about the state of comedy movies, Feig encouraged studios to continue taking chances with edgier offerings.
“For me, an R-rated comedy is the greatest art form of all because it can be honest,” the director said at the time. “Everybody talks the way that people talk in real life. That’s the problem with PG-13 or PG movies: You’ve got a bad guy, and he doesn’t swear. It’s like, ‘Is this real?’”
