LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA, THE
(director/writer: Samir Oliveros; screenwriter: Maggie Briggs; cinematographer: Pablo Lozano; editor: Sebastian Hernandez; music: John Carroll Kirby; cast: David Strathaim (Bill), Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser), Walter Goggins (Peter), Carlota Castrosie (Susie), Shamier Anderson (Chuck), Maisie Williams (Sylvia), Haley Bennett (Patricia), Brian Geraghty (Ed), Johnny Knoxville (Leon Hart), James Wolk (Junior), David Rysdahl (Todd), Shaunette Renée Wilson (Donna); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Amanda Freedman; IFC Films; 2024)
“It takes you behind the scenes of a popular TV game show.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Colombian filmmaker Samir Oliveros (“Bad Lucky Goat”) directs this stranger-than-fiction drama that’s based on a true story. It takes you behind the scenes of a popular TV game show that was aired in Los Angeles on CBS from 1983 to 1986.
Samir’s co-writer is Maggie Briggs.
The 49-year-old ice cream truck driver from Ohio, Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser), whose wife and daughter left him for another man, drives to L.A. in his truck and steals another person’s audition chance by taking his spot on the hit 1984 game show “Press Your Luck.”
The show’s co-creator Bill Carruthers (David Strathaim) finds out about Michael’s transgression and decides to put him on the program despite the objections of the casting director Chuck (Shamier Anderson).
The gist of the story takes place over one day at the site of the show.
Weird Michael will go on to win $110, 237, the most ever on the show. The show’s team think he might be cheating, but it turns out he found a loophole in the show’s system he exploited.
Michael keeps winning and the game show people, such as the host Peter Tomarklen (Walter Goggins), try to figure out on how to deal with someone who might be nuts, is unkempt, breaks the show’s rules by making phone calls during breaks though warned not to by the show’s handler (Maisie Williams), and is not liked or trusted by the team but stays on the show because he keeps winning.
I got a kick out of watching Michael as the underdog, who I didn’t particularly care for except when he got under the skin of the uptight CBS folks. The film falls short on telling Michael’s story by not fully telling it, or even revealing he’s a professional con artist.
Hauser’s zany performance hits the “whammy” button. That’s the game show button pressed to win prizes, as the contestant spins the wheel if he answers the trivia questions the other two contestants miss.
It played at the Toronto Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/24/2025 GRADE: B-
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