Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took a meandering yet painfully anxiety inducing story about a gambling addict and infused it with some of Jake Johnson’s sardonic, everyman charm?
Well, wonder no longer, because "Win It All" starts streaming on Netflix April 7, and it’s a true delight.
Joe Swanberg’s latest premiered this weekend at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, to a raucous audience and even more enthusiastic applause for the direction and Jake Johnson’s ("New Girl," "Drinking Buddies") performance. The film, which follows Johnson as an on-the-fringe gambling addict living in Chicago, starts off like many of Swanberg’s popular fare—it begs the question, “Where is this going?” But once Johnson’s Eddie is presented with a new business opportunity—storing a bag with unknown contents that he is not to investigate while his buddy goes to jail for six months—the story accelerates at pitch perfect pace. The bag is, of course, filled with money, and Eddie, of course, wins big one night and loses way way bigger the next. The film raises the blood pressure of the audience despite never really leaving in doubt that Eddie will do what people like Eddie are prone to do. As you watch, you’re hoping that he will put the bag away and cash in his chips and cringing when he inevitably gives into his worse impulses. Once Eddie goes down $20,000, the film hits a redemption story. Eddie starts to earn the money back, meets a girl and puts the bag away, slowly fixing himself in the process. But when his convict friend gets an early release is where the real action begins, and Eddie has to find a way to jump-start his savings plan—with predictably hilarious consequences.
Swanberg’s work is known for its subtlety and low-stakes humor. In "Drinking Buddies," his previous best work and 2013 SXSW Screener, Johnson and Olivia Wilde are friends who work at a brewery. "Easy," his Netflix series, is about relationships all of kinds, none of which are particularly absurd or outrageous. "Win It All," however, subverts this everyman who encounters a problem narrative with the twist of large sums of money and hilariously high stakes, eschewing the traditional lack-of-plot (a tendency that can be quite off-putting to those mumblecore averse viewers in the world) for a legitimate climax and denouement. Johnson, a frequent Swanberg collaborator, imbues the role with his classic charm, making a deeply flawed character also insanely lovable, if a bit infuriating.
For the streaming service and film producer Netflix, "Win It All" will play as a good return on investment for the streaming service’s original content department. As for Swanberg and Johnson, who have found an eager patron for their particular brand of quirky comedy? Well, they’re playing with house money.
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