“…you've gotta ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” That Dirty Harry Callahan, he was one lucky guy. With all the punks that were after him, he survived reel after reel. Sure he got injured a lot; that never stopped him. One thing about Harry, though—as lucky as he was—he never won the lottery.
Lucky, an independent documentary by Jeff Blitz, introduces viewers to five lottery winners and a group of hopefuls. Playing the lottery is “the most popular form of paid entertainment” in America where $62 billion worth of tickets are sold each year. (Included statistics show the huge gap between money spent on the lottery and money spent on movies and books).
The five winners profiled are Quang, a Vietnamese immigrant who won $22 million on a shared Powerball ticket; James, a lost soul who spent all the money he had ($3) on an Illinois lottery—and won; Kristine and Steve, a suburban couple who won $110 million in Pennsylvania; Buddy, “a former carnival ride operator who won $16 million” in Pennsylvania; and Robert, a mathematician and winner of $22 million in California. Also profiled are people who have high hopes of winning, including a Delaware woman who spends $75-$100 on lottery tickets every day, and feels that it’s her destiny to win big.
Most of the winners weren’t planning on making huge changes in their lives after they got their checks, but they did. James, who had gone steadily downhill since the death of his parents, rejoined the land of the living, bathing, buying clothing, and moving out of his squalid home filled with garbage and cats. Kristine and Steve learned that winning the lottery didn’t change them that much, but changed everyone around them (they eventually moved to a more affluent area to fit in). Buddy’s siblings took out a contract on his life, tried to poison him, and sold him a rigged car. Robert’s wife left him—once he was a winner, she could afford to go. Quang built a small enclave for himself and his children, as well as a large home for his family in Viet Nam that he helps support.
Lucky is thought-provoking. Seeing some of the changes in the winners’ lives might elicit envy (or even lottery ticket buying), but might also make some people realize they don’t buy lottery tickets because they don’t want to win (the other good reason not to buy is the astronomical odds against winning—as much as 200,000,000 to one, depending on the lottery). Lucky is an entertaining and agreeable look at America’s obsession with taking a chance and changing one’s life.
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