Winning cast sells comic 'Lottery Ticket'

Winning the lottery is one surefire way of getting ahead in the world without displaying a lick of talent, brains or hard work. That's why it's a favorite fantasy of so many - and why it's hard for me to sympathize too much with actor/rapper Bow Wow as Kevin Carson, protagonist of the new comedy "Lottery Ticket."

Kevin is a likable guy from the Atlanta projects who suddenly wins $370 million in the Mondo Millions sweepstakes, using lucky numbers he got off a fortune cookie.

One hitch: It's Saturday of a Fourth of July weekend that will stretch through Monday, so Kevin can't cash the ticket until Tuesday. He tries to keep it a secret, but unfortunately, he still lives with his terminally talkative Grandma (Loretta Devine).

Soon, Kevin's life has taken a marked turn for the worse, or at least the more dangerous. He has all kinds of new "friends" and his real longtime chums - including Brandon T. Jackson as best bud Benny and Naturi Naughton as true-blue gal pal Stacie - are feeling neglected.

Teairra Mari as foxy Nikki appoints Kevin her newest cutie. The local pastor, slick Rev. Taylor, preaches a sermon about a new church project and it's aimed straight at Kevin's pew. The local loan shark, Sweet Tee (the always excellent Keith David), is happy to float Kevin a $100,000 loan and also to lend him a torpedo named Jimmy the Driver (Terry Crews) to look after his (their) interests.

And the most dangerous man in the projects - psycho ex-con Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe) - wants that ticket, and doesn't care whom he has to bash to get it.

There's one more character: Mr. Washington (Ice Cube), an agoraphobic ex-boxer who hasn't left his apartment in decades (Kevin brings him groceries and necessities). He doesn't seem to want anything extra from the winner, but he is sure to figure prominently in whatever happens - only partly because Cube is also a producer here.

"Lottery Ticket" has a terrific ensemble cast, and first-time feature director Erik White (who wrote the story with Abdul Williams) keeps them all in high gear. The performances are mostly lively, snappy and sometimes as rich as Kevin may be, if he survives to Tuesday.

The script, unfortunately, falls apart by Sunday. Why does Kevin just wander around everywhere with the still unsigned ticket in his pocket? Where are all the media-hounds who would be covering this story? Why does foxy Nikki give up on her rich hubby campaign so fast? Why does Lorenzo, who's out of jail on probation, steal the ticket in front of dozens of witnesses? By the way, aren't there any cops in these projects?

"Lottery Ticket" is fun at times, and the cast is very good, especially David, Charlie Murphy and Faheem Najm as the convenience store guy who sells Kevin the ticket. And Williams and White do figure out a way to keep their "Lottery Ticket" from being, in the end, a paean to dumb luck and greed.

But the movie doesn't hold up too well next to, say, that beguiling 1994 Nicolas Cage film, "It Could Happen to You." And neither of them comes close to "Christmas in July," Preston Sturges' wonderful 1940 comedy where Dick Powell supposedly wins a big radio coffee jingle contest with the slogan "If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee, it's the bunk."

If you can write well, you don't need to win the lottery. Or so we like to think.