Jackpot

This film is not just that typical on the road Middle America odyssey, with frequent stops in kitschy bars and dusty diners. Jackpot has a well written script with a strong focus on character development and interaction. Gries and Morris... Full review

The Polish Brothers' "Jackpot" is a unique and well crafted, but unfortunately flawed little movie about determination and the weight carried that can cause one to let go of their dreams. It is as entertaining as it is long, but... Full review

If this was 1972, Jackpot would star Jack Nicholson as a talented, but down on his luck musician searching the dusty corners of the country looking for his big break and the pieces of his squandered life. Critics would hail... Full review

In "Jackpot", the Polish brothers tell the story of a character who is more curious than interesting - a soap-selling professional karaoke hustler (Gries) with his own agent (Morris) and impossible dreams of making it as a pop singer. The... Full review

This film is not just that typical on the road Middle America odyssey, with frequent stops in kitschy bars and dusty diners. Jackpot has a well written script with a strong focus on character development and interaction. Gries and Morris... Full review

Even more than the previous, awesome movie by the Polish brothers, "Jackpot" presents a quiet, even-keeled portrait of what at first seem like a ridiculous pair, but who's sincerity and refusal to give up makes you admire them. There's a... Full review

This film opens with a SNAP! Love the crazy use of the old car cassette player to rewind and fast forward us through the thoughts in Sunny Holiday's otherwise empty head. Jon Gries, who plays Sunny, is excellent.However, the movie... Full review

This flashback, head trip style is confusing at first but really works at the story unfolds. Once we find Sunny Holiday (Jon Gries, great job by the way) sitting in his car rewinding and fast forwarding his tape over and... Full review

A simple story about a simple man....with more in his head than his brain can process. He sits in his car, rewinding and fast-forwarding his favorite song as he "spins" through the high and low points of his marriage and... Full review

Attached to every dream there is a ticking clock, an acceptable window of opportunity. When that window closes it's time for the dreamer to "Give it up", and "Get a life", or run the risk of society labeling them a... Full review

In any case, the Polishes have shattered their sophomore slump and delivered an even better film than their first. But Gries and Morris are so good and so low that we latch onto them and their hopeless philosophies, while the Polish brothers feel comfortable enough leaving them there to go off and dazzle us with some amazing cutting or cinematography (by M. David Mullen). ... Full Review

Jackpot" takes a wrong turn down the backroads of the American dream without giving a satisfying glimpse of the travelers or the landscape. For all the sad small-town characters and pathetic swaggering through crummy bars, "Jackpot" never gets to the heart of his American-dream fantasy. ... Full Review

Jackpot" seems partly inspired by the terrific but little-seen "Payday" (1972), a rumble-tumble portrait of a smalltime country singer.....Daryl Hannah, for one, has never shown the kind of icy resolve she does in scenes with her deadbeat husband.....He gives one of this year's greatest performances.....It featured heartbreaking performances by the brothers themselves as conjoined twins;....Unfortunately, most moviegoers won't be seeing "Jackpot" with digital projection, as only about 15 theatres nationwide ... Full Review

Weightless, self-important and downright offensive, Jackpot is also about as fun as traveling through Nevada trying to make a quick buck by selling laundry detergent. Jackpot seems to have been cut to pieces in the editing room, thrown in the air and reassembled at will in order to wring something evocative from the stilted narrative. ... Full Review

The film's trashy color scheme is certainly remarkable....the film's compositions have been so painstakingly constructed.... ... Full Review

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired rights in North America, Australia and New Zealand to Jackpot , the second movie from Mark and Michael Polish whose first film Twin Falls Idaho was also picked up by SPC at Sundance 1999. ... Full Article

Jackpot begins, Sunny is ways off from achieving his goal.As a first step, hes decided to spend nine months touring dingy bars throughout the vast U.S. ... Full Article

Director Michael Polish and his twin brother Mark, who co-wrote and co-starred in the low-key, yet bizarre Twin Falls Idaho, about a woman who falls in love with a conjoined twin, follow up that modest cult hit with Jackpot. ... Full Article