By Charles Kirkland Jr.
What happens to a game show where a contestant seemingly just cannot lose? Find out when a show
meets The Luckiest Man In America.
An unemployed ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio, Michael Larson only made it into auditions
for Press Your Luck because he stole someone else’s appointment. The show’s casting director wants to
get rid of him, but creator Bill Carruthers likes Michael and sees him as someone everyone can root for.
Once the game starts, suddenly Michael can’t lose. He quickly breaks the show’s record and humbles the
returning champion. Is Michael cheating? Or does he understand something about Press Your Luck that
no one has seen before?
Written by Samir Oliveros and Maggie Briggs (TIFF ’22’s Joyland), The Luckiest Man In America has a
large ensemble cast including Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell) as Michael Larson, Walton Goggins,
Shamier Anderson, David Strathairn, Maisie Williams, Patti Harrison, Brian Geraghty, Haley Bennett and
Johnny Knoxville. Samir Oliveros directs the film.
Oliveros gives viewers a behind the scenes look at Press Your Luck’s most infamous episode. The
effects of the episode were a drastic revamping of the structure and procedures of the game
show and ultimately caused it to be shut down. However, as a good choice, the film focuses mostly on
the events of that one day. Sadly, there are a few holes in the script that allow viewers to see
Michael Larson in a more flattering light than he deserves.
Paul Walter Hauser has an uncanny ability to transform himself well into these broken, sometimes inept,
sometimes hapless characters who easily elicits sympathy from viewers. With his unruly mane and
beard, his thrift-store blazer, and khaki shorts, combined with Hauser’s skill, Michael Larson is the
elicit embodiment of desperation. He is a man who has banked everything on the chance to win big on a behind-the-scenes game show with the idea that winning will resolve all of his problems.
Oliveros does a great job of re-creating the feel of the early eighties in the film. The set decoration and
costumes are so spot on, that it can be ignored how little Walton Goggins resembles Peter Tomarken.
Shameer Anderson is authentic playing a character that was a bit of fiction created for the plot of the
movie. Shameer might be the hero in the movie because he does the sleuthing necessary to understand
what Larson is doing. Unfortunately, for Anderson, the hero is Larson played excellently by
Hauser.
The Luckiest Man In America is a safe bet of a movie that illuminates a forgotten turning point in
television game show history, when a network executive took a gamble and unwittingly turned an
obsessive, eccentric, and troubled soul into a folk hero.
Grade: C+