The Lottery Ticket Parent Guide
Unfortunately this comedy about a boy who tries to do right is punctuated with vicious fistfights and threatening gun use, which damper the feel of the film.
Parent Movie Review
Kevin Carson (Bow Wow) is a good kid in a bad situation. Living in the projects with his grandmother (Loretta Devine), he has given up his dream of design school in order to help pay the rent. Yet even his income from working at a shoe store shrivels up when Kevin is fired after three thugs from his neighborhood try and walk out with several boxes of merchandise. Lorenzo (Gbenga Akinnagbe) and his heavies are caught but the young employee becomes the number one target on the crook’s hit list.
Shuffling home from the mall, Kevin purchases a lottery ticket for his grandmother and at the last minute decides to buy one for himself. The next morning he discovers he has won the entire $370 million jackpot, although it will be three days until he can turn the ticket over to the lottery board.
Wanting to keep the news quiet, he swears his grandmother to secrecy and takes off for the day with his friend Benny (Brandon T. Jackson). By the time he returns, the whole neighborhood is partying at his house. (It seems one of the neighbors pried the information out of the older woman when he saw her doing a happy dance with an open bottle of liquor.) Now every one of them has a monetary appeal for Kevin. And it is no different when he shows up at church on Sunday. In a blatant grab for Kevin’s cash, the minister (Mike Epps) calls upon the young parishioner to make not only a donation for a new church but also a personal donation to the preacher for a new mansion.
Following the life-changing event, Kevin tries to maintain his sensibility about money. Still he is momentarily bedazzled by the advances of a gorgeous young woman (Teairra Mari) who wants to become his baby’s momma in order to ensure her own financial future. Later he tries to seduce another young woman (Naturi Maughton) but is interrupted by the arrival of her mother. He also naively accepts a large cash advance—used to go on a shopping and drinking binge with other underage friends—from the sort of character (Keith David) that has unusually brutal methods of ensuring debt repayment.
However all the petitions from his neighbors seem like pocket change compared to the request from one man who demands Kevin hand over the winning ticket.
Unfortunately this comedy about a boy who tries to do right is punctuated with vicious fistfights and threatening gun use, which damper the feel of the film. Profanities, racial slurs, a sexual expletive and other sexual and derogatory terms litter the entire script as well. Despite its best efforts to tender a heartwarming ending to the money-grabbing tale, The Lottery Ticket offers more content concerns than most parents will want to cash in on.
Directed by Erik White. Starring Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton. Running time: 99 minutes. Theatrical release August 20, 2010. Updated July 20, 2016About author
The Lottery Ticket
Rating & Content Info
Why is The Lottery Ticket rated PG-13? The Lottery Ticket is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sexual content, language including a drug reference, some violence and brief underage drinking.
Violence: Frequent verbal threats, hand-to-hand altercations (including punches that knock the victim unconscious or cause bleeding), and threats with guns are portrayed throughout—often involving older teen characters. A man repeatedly threatens members of a neighborhood. A man, who appears to be involved in organized crime, threatens a young man.
Sexual Content: Older teen characters (recent high school graduates) are involved in sexual situations including a young man and woman who are about to have sex (we see her in only underwear) until he refuses. Another teen couple begins pre-sexual activity (we see bare backs and shoulders) but are interrupted when her mother comes home. The use of condoms is discussed. One young woman refuses to allow a young man to wear one and later admits she wants to have his baby. Women wear revealing outfits.
Language: A sexual expletive, another crude term for sex, crude anatomical slang, frequent scatological expletives, racial slurs, derogatory words directed at women and other mild profanities are included.
Alcohol/Drug Use: Underage characters are seen drinking. An adult woman drinks excessively to celebrate.
Other: The theme of this movie involves playing the lottery and gambling.
Page last updated July 20, 2016
The Lottery Ticket Parents' Guide
A scene in this film depicts a man who interrupts a neighborhood barbeque and begins a serious altercation with young man while attempting to steal from him. The crowd simply watches. How do you think your neighbors would react in a similar scenario? How do we know when we should intervene in these types of situations? What dangers might be involved?
Two older teens discuss using a condom prior to beginning sexual activity. It is implied that preventing pregnancy is the main reason for using a condom. Are there other reasons? What are other concerns with impulsive sexual activity aside from pregnancy? Can a condom protect you from every consequence involved with this decision?
Home Video
The most recent home video release of The Lottery Ticket movie is November 16, 2010. Here are some details…
The Lottery Ticket releases on Blu-ray and DVD on November 16, 2010.
Bonus extras include:
- Lottery Ticket: Custom Kicks: catch a look at hardcore sneakerheads
- Junior’s Guide to the Corner Store: VIP tour at the movie’s community hangout
- Everybody’s In: Casting for Lottery Ticket
- The Du-Rag Model: how Bill Bellamy turned the world of Du-Rags into a successful career
- Additional scenes
Related home video titles:
When the community members of a small Irish town discover someone amongst them has won the lottery, they go to extraordinary lengths to get a piece of the prize money in Waking Ned Devine. What to do with a lot of cold, hard cash is a dilemma for two British youngsters who stumble across Millions of pounds of lost money.