The Purge meets Running Man, but as a comedy. This is how I would describe the new film which debuted on Amazon Prime this weekend, Jackpot, starring Awkwafina and John Cena.

The film is set in the near future where California had passed a law saying that their lottery jackpot winners could be hunted and killed within a day and whoever killed them would receive the jackpot instead. This is a bizarre premise, but it certainly speaks to the selfishness and greed of the human race.

Struggling actor Katie Kim (Awkwafina) accidentally wound up in the lotto drawing and won the largest jackpot in the state’s history, 3.6 billion dollars. She did not even realize that she had won and she was unaware of the strange rules associated with the win. So when people started trying to kill her, Katie was shaken.

That is when Noel (John Cena) arrived and offered his help, for 10% of the winnings, to keep her alive until the bell rang, signaling that the chance to kill her and collect the winnings had passed.

This was really stupid. The premise is slightly interesting and yet this felt way too easy for everyone to be involved. Some of the dialogue was atrocious and they were forcing humor into the film at times.

And yet, I did not hate this movie. I do not know why, but I found myself reasonably entertained by this mess.

I think the biggest part that I liked was the presence of Awkwafina and John Cena. They were really funny and had great timing, taking the admittedly weak writing and making it considerably better. Their interactions were great and I was willing to put up with what the movie had going on because I enjoyed their comradery.

I also enjoyed the appearance of Simu Liu, who appeared as a rival Lottery Protector of Noel, just at an apparently larger level. It was a Shang Chi reunion with Simu Liu and Awkwafina.

I am not saying that this is a great movie. It clearly is not. I am saying that I had fun watching it and that it will probably fall into my guilty pleasure category. As for the rating, I am not recommending it to anyone, but if you are a John Cena fan, there is a lot that you will find to enjoy.

2.8 stars