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Lottery Ticket Stars: Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Ice Cube, Naturi Naughton, Loretta Devine, Keith David, Terry Crews, Mike Epps and Chris Williams Director: Erik White Scriptwriters: Erik White and Abdul Williams Alcon Entertainment/Cube Vision/Warner Brothers Rating: PG 13 for violence, language and sexuality Running Length: one hour and 40 minutes One of the questions in Lottery Ticket concerns, “If Jesus is driving your bus, where would he get a birth certificate to get a driver’s license?” This is part of a conversation on what would you do if you won the lottery. Such is the theme of Lottery Ticket, a light-hearted romp into a community where everyone struggles to make a living and playing the lottery is a diversion subject to hours of conversation. Bow Wow (playing Kevin) lives in such a community with his grandmother (Loretta Devine) who regularly plays the lottery. Director and co-scriptwriter, Erik White, takes the idea of someone poor winning the lottery, in different directions. He introduces the audience to Kevin’s circle of friends (Brandon J. Jackson as Benny and Naturi Naughton as Stacie), then widens the circle to include neighborhood crooks who become greedy and possessive when someone in their area wins. Kevin works in a shoe store and wants to be a shoe designer. When Kevin puts his grandmother’s money down on her weekly ticket, he also reluctantly buys a ticket for himself. Guess what, his ticket is the winning one. What to do? A secret is out and so is everyone’s hand who wants a loan. Enter the crooks who want the ticket and you have foot chase scenes, humorous moments involving women suddenly liking Kevin, and the mysterious man who lives in Grandma’s basement and hasn’t been seen in years. This is a character-driven film and individual performances stand-out. Bow Wow is on the sidelines as Brandon T. Jackson steals his scenes as the talkative Benny. Keith David is Sweet Tee, the neighborhood crime boss with Terry Crews as his bodyguard. They chew the scenery with their dialogue. Mike Epps as Reverend Taylor, is virtually unrecognizable as the man who knows how to fire up his congregation, but it is Ice Cube, as the mysterious basement man, who grabs the film. His phrase, “Always protect yourself,” is turned into something else when girls want to have unprotected sex with Kevin. Bow Wow’s films have a message and here it comes through loud and clear, use protection. Bow Wow has honed his acting skills and his interaction with Brandon T. Jackson and Naturi Naughton shows a realistic camaraderie. The bad guys come on strong, but they can’t always run that fast. When push comes to shove, brains win out. Lottery Ticket actually has several messages in the script. Be good to your grandmother and friends, know what true friendship is, return something positive to the community, have religion in your life and don’t tell anyone if you win the lottery. You never know who might be listening. Copyright 2010 Marie Asner
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