TIFF 2024: ‘The Luckiest Man in America’ is a Big, Sly Winner–No Whammies!

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to guest on your favorite game show? The audience cheering for you, the lights blinking in your face, and, of course, all those fabulous prizes! Yes, that is the sound of applause you hear. With The Luckiest Man in America, director Samir Oliveros combines the hidden, personal flailing of an everyday American dreamer with the promise of a glitzy fifteen minutes of fame. Paul Walter Hauser leads a strong ensemble cast in this exciting, thoroughly entertaining story about the lengths we go to prove ourselves to each other as well as have a few extra bucks in our pockets.

When I watched Press Your Luck as a kid, I wanted the Whammies–those pesky nuggets of mischief–to swipe everyone’s money away. Now that I am older, I would probably feel differently, but the CBS game show is sort of like a huge arcade game all about timing. Michael Larson intrigues the casting department of Press Your Luck with his excitement and knowledge of the game. He tells producer Bill Carruthers (David Straithairn) and casting director Chuck (Shamier Anderson) how he hopes to win enough money that he doesn’t have to drive his ice cream truck in the upcoming summer months. When they discover that Larson took the spot of another contestant, he is escorted off the premises even though Cunningham can’t let go of Larson’s homegrown charm–he even gifted the executive a plate with a Whammy painted on it.

Larson is invited back to be a contestant, and, it seems, that his nerves might prevent him from doing well on the show. He is seated in the coveted middle seat between Brian Geraghty’s sweet returning champion and Patti Harrison’s frustrated housewife, but, suddenly, Larson takes control of the board. His eyes dart around as Oliveros pushes the camera in on Hauser’s face, his bushy beard providing a border around the frame. We are witnessing a real success story–the kind that you talk about with your coworkers the next day over morning coffee. That is…until Chuck, from the control room, notices some suspicious in Larson’s eyes. After a few rounds of successful play, Chuck picks up on Larson’s patterns and deduces that he is cheating. After some slick investigating, and, you know, a bit of breaking and entering into Larson’s truck, it becomes apparent that Larson has memorized the board’s movements.

As the executives watching the game become more and more alarmed, Larson, himself, believes that everyone might be onto him. Watching a colorful, comedic cat-and-mouse game is an entirely unique thing as Larson tries to keep his cool and try to grasp the studio’s space as quietly as he can. Oliveros impressively balances the bopping backstage energy as we begin to understand why Larson becomes more and more desperate for control. The executives and show’s technical directors are watching everything play out in a sleek office. Straithairn’s Carruthers realizes that he has been manipulated as Shaunette Renée Wilson commands the room. The production design of that space is cold and black and Wilson’s bright red dress pops on screen as all  the men at CBS have a collective meltdown.

Hauser has established himself as an actor who taps into a character’s inner heart and lets it bleed through. Larson represents a man who wants to be King for a Day–to feel that sun shining on his face–in a world that keeps telling him that he’s not good enough. When the cameras are on Larson, he gains a confidence that he doesn’t feel at home. Why sit on the couch and watch your favorite show when you can become a sensation on your favorite show? He knocks it out of the park.

The Luckiest Man in America takes a relatively unknown or forgotten water cooler moment and blows it up to be reconsidered. It’s amusing tale of how we just want to be told we are a winner. No risk, no reward.

The Luckiest Man in America is currently seeking distribution.