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MILLIONS: A LOTTERY STORY
Directed by Paul La Blanc
Produced by Jordan Katon
Edited by & Director of Photography, Katon &La Blanc
Released by LifeSize Entertainment
USA. 101 min. Not Rated

Pleasant, but no mega jackpot. That’s the bottom line with this rambling documentary about six average Americans who hit it big.

In this slice-of-life documentary, we learn pre-lottery values are accurate predictors of post-lottery decisions to save or squander winnings. Interestingly enough, regardless of spending habits (from dog tracks and cocaine, to college funds and church air conditioning) the six subjects are likeable. They make you want to like the movie, perhaps more than its pedestrian ramblings warrants.

Maybe you buy lottery tickets, “Just for fun,” or because “You can’t win if you don’t play.” But if you’re of the “Who buys those things?” ilk, then Millions: A Lottery Story will enlighten. You’ll know exactly who buys lottery tickets: not the most compelling human beings on the planet.

They are sweeties, nonetheless. With no narration, the winners tell their own stories. Sixteen cafeteria workers from a Lake Wobegon-esque farming community, Holdingford, MN, are barely changed by their windfall. Each woman took home an estimated $2 million in 2003, but most remain slinging hash at the local high school. La Blanc features four of the lunch ladies, still milking cows and using jam jars to pickle their garden items. But why not provide more variety in his choice of subjects? One Holdingford winner would have sufficed. If La Blanc wanted to make the definitive insider’s look at lottery winners, he needed more diversity.

Affable Louis Eisenberg was an early winner. In 1981, he hit a then-record jackpot of $5 million in the New York State Lottery. Eisenberg quit his job and became an instant celebrity, appearing on The Tonight Show and cutting commercials for the lottery commission. With an ongoing gambling problem, he burned through winnings and marriages. Twenty-five years later, he struggles to buy needed prescriptions, but still has the scratch to blow at the race track.

Another New York winner, Curtis Sharp, was generous to a fault and battled a cocaine addiction. After losing his winnings, Sharp moved to Tennessee to become an evangelical minister.

Both Eisenberg and Sharp are philosophical about their rags to riches – and back to rags – journeys, saying they enjoyed themselves along the way. I guess there’s a possibility you’ll enjoy yourself along the way, too. But just as the lottery doesn’t change these winners very much, this film won’t alter the way you think either. With the abundance of thought-provoking documentary fare available in theatres and on DVDs, your viewing time would be better spent elsewhere. Take the money you’d waste on a lottery ticket and see something better. Elisa Klein
June 10, 2008