"Lottery Ticket" feels like it was made in the late '70s or early '80s, at a time when manufactured urban ghettos were still considered a "good idea."
Co-writer/debut director Erik White seems more concerned with regurgitating racial stereotypes than moving forward any ideas on social injustices that plague modern-day African American culture.
Kevin Carson (Bow Wow) is a bought-and-sold minimum wage slave at Foot Locker, whose product placement plagues the movie at every turn.
18-year-old Kevin dreams of designing tennis shoes like those in the massive collection in his closet. We know where Kevin spends his Foot Locker paychecks.
Kevin's financial future looks up when he uses numbers from a fortune cookie on a $350-million lottery ticket that wins. The trouble is that it's the 4th of July weekend and neither Kevin nor his bible-thumping grandmother (Loretta Devine) can keep a secret. A ghetto kingpin and a vicious ex-con make Kevin their top priority while the long weekend drags on before he can cash in the winning ticket. A hot-bodied neighborhood floozy has plans for attaching herself to Kevin's money, as does every other neighbor in the immediate vicinity.
Crude physical humor and disposable dialogue make for a very unsatisfying urban comedy.
Rated PG-13. 95 mins.
