The Luckiest Man in America

'The Luckiest Man in America' is an entertaining and fascinating well-made true tale even when the proceedings go ultimately thin.

Entertaining! Was that a true story?

It shows how corrupt corporate America is.

For game show fans who actually know the story of what happened on the "Press Your Luck" set that day, this movie will be disappointing. Instead of sticking to the actual story—which is fascinating on its own—the creators of this movie took it upon themselves to add a lot of extra "fluff" to dramatize the story. The fact of the matter is this: while this movie goes out of its way to paint Larson as a devious cheater, the reality is CBS and the Carruthers Company found that Larson decoded the repeating patterns on the board honestly and awarded him every penny of his money. They were all well aware someone could memorize the limited amount of board patterns when the show was in its original planning stages but decided it was prohibitively expensive to spend the extra money to buy more advanced computers to randomize the board's patterns. Only after Larson went on his run did the network and production company feel it was necessary to invest in the new computers.

. Overall, "The Luckiest Man in America" is a must-see film that balances heart and humor, leaving me feeling inspired and hopeful. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a compelling and uplifting cinematic experience!

This is one of those movies that worked much better as the original documentary form given it was able to give more of the backstory and calculation behind Michael Larson’s antics. I found the movie to be a little confusing and without knowing the true story I think I would have been lost. They mention with on screen text at the beginning that some things were changed and they certainly were. I just think the things they changed and/or added made things worse not better. I would have liked to see more of his preparation to beat the game and more of the aftermath where he kept his get rich quick life going until finally going into hiding. So much more opportunity here and for that it just made it frustrating.

Let me take you back to 1984. Michael Larson, an AC repair man and ice cream truck driver, ends up on the game show Press Your Luck. THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA tells this true story. Michael (Paul Walter Hauser) keeps winning, with no end in sight. This causes everybody at CBS to panic in their own ways, including the host Peter Tomarken (Walton Goggins), the producer Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn), his assistant Chuck (Shamier Anderson), and the show’s assistant Sylvia (Maisie Williams). This movie is entertaining from start to finish. Hauser is amazing yet again as a character who is socially awkward. When you look at him, you can’t shake the feeling that something’s off. Goggins is always great in everything he does, no surprise there. The tension builds as the movie goes on, highlighted by the score and by Hauser’s body language. Not knowing what actually happened back then, I had no idea where it was going. My one problem was the ending. It seemed abrupt and I’m not sure if it’s because of the low budget, but I would’ve liked to have a little more finality to it. I do recommend staying during the credits though. Overall, THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA is a very entertaining historical moment brought back into the light of day with a great ensemble cast, seemingly accurate enough to what actually happened at the time. I recommend it wherever you can find it!

The over simplification of a complex man and his complicated life, which is a shame because there was so much more story to tell.

An intriguing (based on) true story, that ended very unevenly. Bad writing. But, I applaud the fact they made this and there are some good moments.

This movie was incredible. Personally I love game shows and find them fascinating, this was a blend of both masterpiece and riveting. It keeps your attention the whole time. While watching this movie, the scenes flow seamlessly and with constant evolutions to the story you can not guess what is going to happen next (although its based on a true story so you know the ending) it is an incredible watch. The direction of this film was incredible, the costumes, sound, lighting, and scenery were all spectacular and spot on. I would very much recommend this to anyone that enjoys gameshows and true stories.