June 3

I remember watching this as a kid. Press Your Luck was always a fun game show and anyone could do it. However, the world had no idea exactly how truthful that statement was until Michael Larson proved it to the world.

Larson was an unemployed ice cream truck driver who loved Press Your Luck. It started as what appeared to be an insanely lucky streak of avoiding the Whammies, but soon was revealed as something more.

In this biopic of one of the most infamous moments in game show history, The Luckiest Man in America provided us with the story of that day of tapings in 1984 that cemented Michael Larson as a notorious game show contestant who found the key to winning against the “Big Board.”

Larson had memorized the patterns of the board after months of research and he was putting those skills to test on the TV program. As he was winning at a consistent basis, the executives looked to prevent him from destroying their show.

Paul Walter Hauser played Michael Larson, showing surprising depth to the man. The film looked at Larson’s failed marriage and his relationship with his daughter as ways to show his motives for pulling this scam.

Walton Goggins played Peter Tomarkin, the host of the show. David Strathairn played Bill, a TV executive on the game show. Both of these actors were great in support of Hauser.

This is a fascinating true tale that I wonder how much is hyperbole and how much is true. Either way, this was an enjoyable character study of one of the most outrageous moments in Daytime TV history.

3.85 stars