I remember watching clips of Press Your Luck as a kid. The dreaded Whammy acting like the Bankrupt from Wheel of Fortune, taking everyone’s money away. I never heard of or saw Michael Larson’s historic run in 1984. But after watching The Luckiest Man In America, I think I might have an idea why, destined to be a part of some “game show true crime” series on a streamer someday.
Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser) didn’t get off to a great start. CBS Page Sylvia (Maisie Williams) figures out he wasn’t even invited to audition and kicks him out. Assistant Producer Chuck (Shamier Anderson) vetoes him, but he’s overruled by exec David Carruthers (David Strathairn), who thinks there’s something interesting there. Well, David learns just how interesting, when host Peter Tomarken (Walton Goggins) gives Michael his chance to Press Your Luck.
Writer/director Samir Oliveros takes the bold choice to center the whole movie around Press Your Luck. He’s hoping for a Locke type situation, where the stuck setting makes the movie claustrophobic and panic and tension start to slowly build. Unfortunately, Oliveros realizes there’s probably only 45 minutes to an hour of material here, so he pads in stuff that undercuts his general premise, throwing in ephemeral really weird Hollywood studio stuff (with one great reveal, credit where credit is due). It’s too bad, because Paul Walter Hauser really shows again why he’s one of our underappreciated great actors and the backstage stuff has something there to be really potent. This movie hits a whammy a few times unfortunately.
Too bad, because even though the premise only has an hour of material, Michael Larson’s story could have been so much bigger. I would have loved this movie to have just a little more money to build a twisted sports story around Larson, and all the things he did in his life. I beg you to look it up, he’s hella fascinating, probably why Hauser took the part. This version of the story would live up to the great title, and probably work something like The Informant! a movie I wish directors would take a shot at recreating. We get teases of it here, but only bare bones, keeping us in the dark about Michael and who he is as a person.
The Luckiest Man in America so badly wants to be Quiz Show. It’s not nearly as good as that film, but it’s still a decently fun time. If anything, it gets Paul Walter Hauser more exposure. I want that guy in more stuff, he’s got the goods. Come on, y’all, did you watch Cobra Kai! He wanted in so badly he played a guy who beats up kids named Stingray, and completely committed to the bit.