Film Review: ‘Jerry and Marge go Large’: Gaming the Lottery for the Greater Good

PG-13 | 1h 30m | Comedy | June 17, 2022

Actor Bryan Cranston broke big in HBO’s “Breaking Bad.” He was already well known as the zany dad from TV’s “Malcolm in the Middle,” but “Bad” put him on Hollywood’s A-list, playing a New Mexico high school chemistry teacher who starts cooking crystal meth to supplement his paltry income. His character, Walter White, didn’t tell his wife what he was up to.

In “Jerry and Marge go Large,” Cranston is Jerry, a Michigan retiree who worked 42 years at the Kellogg’s cereal plant, and who figures out how to game the lottery system. And at first he doesn’t tell his wife Marge what he’s up to either; he just stuffs wads of $100 bills in the big crackerjack tin in the pantry until his granddaughter wants crackerjacks. Then the loot goes in the Wheaties box. The charming “Jerry and Marge Go Large” is based on a true-life story chronicled in a 2018 Huffington Post article.

Marge (Annette Bening) and Jerry (Bryan Cranston) in “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” based on the true story of a retired couple that find a loophole in the lottery. Jake Giles Netter/Paramount+

Math Intelligence

According to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner there are roughly 12 different types of intelligence: Musical-rhythmic and harmonic, Visual-spatial, Linguistic-verbal, Logical-mathematical, Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic, and Existential.

Jerry’s a logical-mathematical guy to a fault. When given a fishing boat as a retirement present, Jerry backs the boat trailer into the lake, gets out to release the boat, forgets the parking brake; his pickup truck rolls into the lake. Jerry frantically jumps in the cab, hits the gas; the truck blasts out of the lake, the boat’s outboard motor smacks the asphalt and is summarily destroyed. Jerry realizes he needs to stick to what he’s good at.

Capra-esque

While  Legendary director Frank Capra was in the Army, his contribution to the war effort was primarily propaganda filmmaking, which always focused on courage and its positive effects, and the triumph of the underdog, especially as having a somewhat whimsical feel or a story affirming democratic values.

There’s something of that here: Classically, one-track mind Jerry doesn’t know what to do with himself in retirement, until one day, during his morning coffee at the local diner, he absentmindedly peruses a lottery pamphlet. Up go the eyebrows, out comes the statistics-whiz pencil, and a diner napkin is soon scribbled full of math hieroglyphs. Bingo! Jerry discovers a mathematical flaw in the system; he realizes he’s virtually guaranteed a decent jackpot by buying up high volumes of tickets. And it’s totally legal.

With the help of his fun-loving wife Marge (Annette Bening), they rack up a small fortune playing Winfall. When the game shuts down in their state, they drive 10 hours to Massachusetts, hole up in a seedy motel, and count tickets for a week straight. They like it! It’s adventurous fun! $15,000 in a week! Somebody later says, “That sounds like a lot of work.” Jerry says, “I worked 42 years. That was work. This is different.”

Marge (Annette Bening) and Jerry (Bryan Cranston) systematically locating the needle in the haystack, in “Jerry and Marge Go Large.”Jake Giles Netter/Paramount+

Jerry, all-American, clean-cut, and pedantic, is of course (just like Walter White), the last person one would suspect of pulling off something like this. However, such easy money is quickly highly addictive for two middle-class seniors facing socioeconomic challenges.

But, to their credit, the couple forms a syndicate of friends and family from their struggling Michigan hometown. Somebody wants to bring back the summer jazz festival. Another friend wants to restore the local ice cream shop. It becomes apparent that money isn’t the primary motivator, after all.

Other Players

Rainn Wilson is fun as the initially grumpy Massachusetts convenience store owner who oversees Jerry and Marge’s marathons, of printing out of thousands of tickets all day long. When he needs to kick them out because there can’t be customers in the store after hours, Jerry suggests they skirt that issue by not being customers, but partners, and presents Bill with a homemade corporate kit, replete with a logo drawn by Jerry’s granddaughter Liz (Devyn McDowell).

(L–R) Jerry (Bryan Cranston), Marge (Annette Bening) and Bill (Rainn Wilson) talk lottery tickets, in “Jerry and Marge Go Large.” Jake Giles Netter/Paramount+

Hilariously, Bill now has the wherewithal to divorce his greedy wife, cheerfully signing away the house and various and sundry expensive belongings. She curiously asks what that corporate thingie is—that one thing he insists on keeping. Bill’s blithely delivered parting shot as he drives away in a new car, and the resulting look on her face, are priceless.

However, great logical-mathematical minds think alike, and of course there’s a Harvard brainiac kid who also stumbles upon the mathematical loophole in the lottery system. (In reality, it was an M.I.T. student).

This undergrad brat (Uly Schlesinger) thinks he’s up against some kind of crime syndicate and laughs himself silly when he finds out it’s a couple of grandparents muscling in on what he considers his turf. He snobbishly lectures Jerry on math as understood by the rarified Harvardian mind, but Jerry matter-of-factly (and very satisfyingly) lectures him back, backed by a lifetime of real-world experience.

Steve (Larry Wilmore, ) (L) is Jerry's (Bryan Cranston) accountant, whose understanding of math Jerry questions, in “Jerry and Marge Go Large.” Jake Giles Netter/Paramount+

All in All

It’s a fun, heartwarming caper-comedy with a focus on philanthropy over greed—how could it go wrong? Well, it’s an inherently not particularly cinematic subject matter, and elderly retirees are not exactly charismatic heroes.

That doesn’t necessarily matter, though. If this caliber of movie stars, with their to-the-manor-born, way-above-average levels of charisma can’t get some crackle and pop going onscreen regardless of the subject matter, it’s the fault of the screenplay and director. But they do, for the most part.

The problem is the soundtrack. In this case it’s a thoroughly insipid, uninspired, TV sitcom-like, laugh-telegraphing soundtrack. The underdevelopment of the peripheral characters detracts, to a lesser extent.

Still, like 1991’s “Doc Hollywood,” which has long become the go-to movie reference about big city people learning to appreciate American small-town life, “Jerry and Marge” has loads of small-town charm and the always well-appreciated tale of exposing flaws and gaming the system for the greater good.

And it’s got a great relationship. When Jerry considers backing down due to threats by the college kid, Marge reminds him, “As long as you and I have each other, we’re not afraid to be stupid.” No risk, no reward.

“Jerry and Marge Go Large” is a good reminder to take some risks, and keep your friends and family close.

Movie poster for “Jerry and Marge Go Large.” Jake Giles Netter/Paramount+

‘Jerry and Marge Go Large’ Director: David Frankel Starring: Bryan Cranston, Annette Bening, Rainn Wilson, Larry Wilmer, Uly Schlesinger MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Release Date: July 17, 2022 Rating: 3 stars out of 5