Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- sardonic
- uneasy
- irreverent
- dark comedy night
- crime movie marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly found Nora Ephron’s dark crime comedy tonally uneven, overplotted, and weakened by characters whose unpleasantness makes the outcome difficult to care about.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Russ, Gig, and Crystal construct a plan to manipulate a $6.4 million lottery jackpot, triggering competing demands from people inside and outside the scheme.
The film combines playful performances and comic criminal plotting with gruesome, sad, brutal, and potentially lethal developments.
Russ exploits his popularity as WTPA’s weather forecaster while Crystal’s role as the station’s lottery presenter gives the group access to the live drawing.
Russ turns to illegal activity after an unseasonably warm winter damages his snowmobile dealership and conventional sources of money refuse to help.
Films like Lucky Numbers, and why
Fargo
dark crime comedy about incompetent conspirators, escalating complications, and unstable loyalties
The Big Lebowski
ensemble crime caper blending deadpan humor, criminal schemes, and tonal unease
Ruthless People
comic lottery-centered criminal plotting with morally compromised characters and escalating danger
Movie Details
- Director
- Nora Ephron
- Release Date
- 2000-10-27
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Rating
- 5.2 / 10 (201)
Cast
- John Travolta
- Lisa Kudrow
- Tim Roth
- Ed O'Neill
- Michael Rapaport
- Daryl Mitchell
- Bill Pullman
- Richard Schiff
- Michael Moore
- Sam McMurray
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Lucky Numbers about?
- A financially desperate Pennsylvania weatherman assembles an unlikely crew to rig a lottery jackpot, only to find the scam multiplying his problems faster than his winnings.
- What is Lucky Numbers like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Lucky Numbers as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Lucky Numbers violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Lucky Numbers as moderate.
- What did critics think of Lucky Numbers?
- Critics broadly found Nora Ephron’s dark crime comedy tonally uneven, overplotted, and weakened by characters whose unpleasantness makes the outcome difficult to care about.
- Which films are like Lucky Numbers?
- Films with a similar feel include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Ruthless People.
- How long is Lucky Numbers?
- Lucky Numbers runs 105 minutes.
- Where can I watch Lucky Numbers?
- In United States, Lucky Numbers is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
