The game-show industry has had a number of controversies throughout the years, but it has really advanced since employees of the Twenty-One quiz show fed a contestant the correct answers during the ’50s, in order to upset a previous champion. What feels like a stacked deck of scenarios against ordinary players is nowhere close to being balanced by the few opportunities where someone is lucky enough to take home a grand prize, plus a boatload of cash the old-fashioned way: with their knowledge.

And the very moment when Michael Larson stepped foot onto the Press Your Luck stage in May of 1984, all the broadcast network bean counters took notice, forever changing future games of chance. Though he may have faced more than a few Whammies in his personal life, while he was a contestant, he was nothing but a winner. Michael Larson was The Luckiest Man in America!

Based on a true story, this biographical drama features an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio who managed to crack the code on the classic Press Your Luck TV game show. Paul Walter Hauser (as Michael) is initially dismissed as a freak after flopping his audition, but he is given another chance. Cleaning up his exterior, the show’s producers start doubting Michael’s previously stated truths… has he been living a lie? Or will any of it really matter, once he actually makes his way onto the set?

“You really just don’t know when to stop, do you?”

Sporting retro-themed flashing lights and groovy intro music, Luckiest Man is a small movie, mostly focused on Studio 33 in Television City. This hypnotizing set appears as the unofficial costar of the film, which ought to win more than a few awards for the art director (Diego Garcia) and the set decorator (Camilo Ospina) in a perfect world.

The portrayal of this superfan teeters between pathetic to sympathetic, barely touching upon the rocky relationship with his wife. The real-life Michael used technology to his advantage, recording many episodes of the show and memorizing the five programmed patterns of the game board, as the show didn’t have the budget to use any more.

Walton Goggins’ portrayal as the smarmy game show host, Peter, is pitch perfect, who both welcomes and annoys contestants while always playing to the crowd for appreciation. It felt like everywhere I looked this year Walton was there. The Summer of Walton felt like an overdose of the actor, but he’s great here. As the story evolves, once the execs are onto Michael’s scheme, they alternate from trying to make him lose, to trying to encourage him to win in order to make him a star. To say it’s a dysfunctional workplace is an understatement.

“I have seen a lot of lucky streaks in my day, but no one has ever been as dumbly brave as you.”

I actually enjoyed watching Press Your Luck when I was younger, but I don’t recall watching Michael’s exploits. I’ve previously read a bit about him after the fact, but I don’t believe he should be idolized or copied. While he may not have technically broken any of the show’s rules, his creativity should be something we should all aspire to have. And there’s a brief-but-great end-credits scene of the actual show, proving the real-life contestants and host actually look eerily similar to their fictionalized counterparts. That’s no coincidence, BTW!

Writer-Director Samir Oliveros has crafted a low-key biopic that reminds me of Blackberry and Tetris — a couple of relatively recent biographical films which I really enjoyed — making me wish I had heard about them much earlier in their release schedule, before their necessary end-of-year FYC campaigns. These are the type of films I used to enjoy with large crowds surrounding me on opening weekends inside movie theaters.

Now they’re shuttered to the various streaming services, often getting overlooked. Do not hit a Whammy. Make sure to hit the jackpot by watching this hidden gem!

“I may have needed a bit more luck in this town than I thought.”