Brian Geraghty, Carlota Castro, David Rysdahl, David Strathairn, drama, Haley Bennett, Johnny Knoxville, Maisie Williams, movies, Patti Harrison, Paul Walter Hauser, reviews, Samir Oliveros, Shamier Anderson, Stefano Meier, The Luckiest Man in America, TIFF, Toronto International Film Festival, Walton Goggins
May 8, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Samir Oliveros
Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles, in 1984, the dramatic film “The Luckiest Man in America” (based on true events) features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A man has a record-breaking winning streak on the game show “Press Your Luck,” and the show’s employees frantically try to find out behind the scenes if he is cheating.
Culture Audience: “The Luckiest Man in America” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and movies about TV scandals or con artists.
“The Luckiest Man in America” is a well-acted character study that’s fascinating but incomplete. This drama omits many interesting details of the real-life story of Michael Larson, who won a record-breaking 1984 jackpot on the game show “Press Your Luck.” Larson’s long history as a con artist before and after this jackpot is hinted at but never fully explored in this mixed bag of a movie, which has an underwhelming ending.
Directed by Samir Oliveros, “The Luckiest Man in America” was co-written by Oliveros and Briggs. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. In May 1984, Larson (who died in 1999, at the age of 49) won $110,237 on “Press Your Luck.” At the time, it was the largest jackpot in U.S. game show history. For the purposes of this review, the real Larson will be referred to by his last name, while the characters in the movie are referred to by their first names.
“Press Your Luck” (created by Bill Carruthers and Jan McCormack) originally aired on CBS from 1983 to 1986. “Press Your Luck” was revived in 2019 on ABC. In each “Press Your Lock” game episode, three contestants answer trivia questions. The contestant who is the first to anwer a trivia question correctly earns a “spin” on a crossword puzzle-styled game board displayed on a large video screen. In each square shown on the board is either a prize (usually cash) or a goblin-like cartoon figure called a Whammy. For each “spin,” the contestant presses a button that creates movement across the board. The contestant can control when to start and stop each spin.
When the spin movement stops, whatever is shown in the square that’s highlighted at the end of that stop is what the contestant will get. If the highlighted square is a prize, the contestant will get the prize. If the prize is something such as a trip, the cash value of that prize is counted for the contestant’s total. If the highlighted square at the end of a spin stop is a Whammy, then the contestant loses everything that was accumulated in the game and has to start over until the game time ends. The contestant with the highest cash total at the end of the game is declared the winner.
The “press your luck” aspect of the game has two meanings: Contestants have to press the button to stop and start on what they hope will be a square with a prize. But the “press your luck” aspect also has to do with contestants with the spin control of the board having to decide if they should keep going with the button pushing or if they should stop, so as not to risk getting a Whammy. If a contestant chooses to stop, the trivia round part of the game opens up again so all three contestants get a chance to get control of the board.
In real life, Larson had a “too good to be true” winning streak where he kept winning prize after prize and avoided the Whammy. Did he cheat or did he find a flaw in the system that allowed him to legally win these prizes? This review won’t answer that question because many people watching the movie won’t know until the movie reveals the answer about halfway through the story. Viewers who already know what happened in real life will probably more bored with this movie than viewers who don’t know what happened before seeing this film,.
“The Luckiest Man in America” (which takes place over a few days in May 1984) begins by showing 35-year-old Michael Larson (played by Paul Walter Hauser) doing an audition interview at a “Press Your Luck” production office at CBS’s Television City studio complex in Los Angeles. Some of the movie’s production design and cinematography makes it look like it’s set in 1970s, not the 1980s. The main clues that the movie takes place in the 1980s are scenes that show 1980s-styled cars, computers and VCRs.
Michael (who has grayish white hair and looks about 20 years older than his real age) is unkempt and schlubby, with a bushy beard and and uncombed hair. Michael is visibly nervous and gives a tacky-looking plate with a hand-drawn Whammy on it as a gift to the two interviewers: “Press Your Luck” creator/director Bill Carruthers (played by David Strathairn) and a “Press Your Luck” executive producer named Chuck (played by Shamier Anderson), who is looking for authentic contestants.
Michael is not an authentic contestant. It turns out he snuck into the audition by using the name of another person named Travis Dunne, who was selected for this audition. (Travis Dunne is never seen in the movie.) The only truthful things that Michael said in the interview is that Michael is from Lebanon, Ohio, and he works as an air conditioning repairman. During the summer, he also operates an ice cream truck.
When Michael’s impersonation ruse is discovered, he admits his real name is Michael Larson. He says that he only impersonated someone else out of despertation because he applied to be on “Press Your Luck” several times but never got a response. Michael’s excuse is not accepted, so he is told to leave immediately.
But something about Michael intrigues Bill, who wants to give Michael another chance. Bill immediately finds Michael in his ice cream truck in the studio parking lot. Bill tells Michael that he can be a contestant on the show if Michael cleans up his physical appearance (by dressing better and having tidier hair) and coming back to the studio promptly the next morning. Michael eagerly agrees to this deal.
Michael’s ice cream truck (which has the company name The Magic Garvey) parked in the studio lot is a contrivance for this movie because of certain things that happen later, when his truck becomes the center of an investigation. In real life, Larson did not drive his truck from Ohio to California. He took the trip by airplane.
Michael and other “Press Your Luck” contestants are given a short tour of Television City by a production assistant named Sylvia (played by Maisie Williams), a stressed-out Brit who becomes even more stressed-out when Michael begins acting erratically and occasionally disappears from the studio set during breaks after the game begins. The other two contestants in this game are an amiable Baptist minister named Ed Long (played by Brian Geraghty) and a smirky dental assistant named Janie Litras (played by Patti Harrison), with Michael seated in between Ed and Janie.
The host of “Press Your Luck” is Peter Tomarken (played by Walton Goggins), a toothy emcee who seems like he’s a game show host because he couldn’t be a successful stand-up comedian. Peter tells lukewarm and corny jokes that would probably get him heckled at a stand-up comedy club but get laughter and applause in this TV studio because staffers are holding up cue cards telling the studio audience how to react. When Michael goes on a winning streak, Peter reacts as if he doesn’t know if he’s witnessing a train wreck or a happy miracle.
Backstage, things aren’t quite as dubious about how certain people on the staff feel about Michael’s winning streak. At first, Bill thinks is amused by Michael because Bill thinks Michael is an eccentric underdog who makes for good television. When a control-room assistant director named Todd (played by David Rysdahl) asks Bill, “Where do you get these people?” Bill smugly answers, “What can I say? The crazies come to me.” Bill’s attitude then begins to change when he and Chuck begin to suspect that Michael is cheating, but they haven’t figured out how.
During breaks, Michael nervously makes phone calls in a hallway because he says he’s trying to reach his daughter Susie (played by Carlota Castro) to wish her a happy birthday, who’s about 7 or 8 years old. He really isn’t supposed to be making these phone calls, because it’s against the contestant rules to make or receive calls while they’re playing the game, but Sylvia let Michael use the phone because she fell for his sob story about Michael wanting to talk to Susie on her birthday.
During the contestant introductions part of the show, Michael mentions Susie and his wife Patricia. He gives the impression that he’s a happily married family man. The truth is much different: He’s been separated from Patricia (played by Haley Bennett), who has another man in her household: Lyle Roberts (played by Stefano Meier), whose relationship to Patricia and Michael is eventually revealed in the movie.
Michael acts suspiciously from the beginning, like he’s on the verge of a sweaty meltdown, but a lot of it looks fabricated for the movie. During one of his breaks backstage, he takes a detour into a studio where a talk show is being recorded, and he starts talking to host Leon Hart (played by Johnny Knoxville), as if Michael is in a therapy session. It’s a surreal part of the movie that is meant to show that Michael is starting to lose touch with reality.
Hauser gives a compelling performance as fidgety Michael, whose methods and motives become clearer as time goes on. The other cast members do well-enough in ther roles, althoug many of the supporting characters seem underdeveloped. Where the movie falls short is not showing or not telling who Michael was before he was on this game show and how the prize money (and the high-profile scandal) affected his life. Despite an ending that falls a little flat, “The Luckiest Man in America” can be passably entertaining to watch, but it’s not the type of movie that will become a beloved classic.
IFC Films (now known as Independent Film Company) released “The Luckiest Man in America” in select U.S. cinemas on April 4, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on May 6, 2025.