Posthumously released following the death of its young star Angus Cloud (North Hollywood 2021, The Line 2023), it is hard not to watch Your Lucky Day with some sense of sadness. Released in select theaters on November 10th, and On Digital November 14th through Well Go USA Entertainment, Your Lucky Day, if anything, serves as a reminder of a talent lost far too soon.
Written and directed by Daniel Brown (in his directorial feature debut), Your Lucky Day poses a question to the audience – what would you do and how far would you go for a cut of $156
million dollars? This is exactly the scenario that the characters face as the film finds an assortment of strangers gathered in a convenience store late one night when one of them strikes it lucky with a winning lottery ticket.
million dollars? This is exactly the scenario that the characters face as the film finds an assortment of strangers gathered in a convenience store late one night when one of them strikes it lucky with a winning lottery ticket.
There is heavily pregnant Ana (Jessica Garza: Six series, The Purge series) and her suit wearing boyfriend Abraham (Elliot Knight: American Gothic series, Color out of Space 2019) who has just been at his job playing piano in the mall. There is an off duty security guard (Charlie Magdaleno: The Backpack 2012, Proof Sheet 2023) who wanders the aisles whilst a suspicious looking Sterling (Angus Cloud) observes from a distance. Finally there is Amir (Mousa Hussein Kraish: Superbad 2007, The Dictator 2012) the store’s owner and Mr Laird (Spencer Garrett: Yes Man 2008, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019), a cocky customer who berates Amir for the store’s prices.
Already slightly unbearable, Mr. Laird becomes even more so when he buys a lottery ticket and promptly wins the jackpot. Without a second thought, he loudly celebrates his win much to the disdain of the others in the store. He doesn’t need the money, it doesn’t seem fair and no one else is pleased for him. But whilst the majority of the other customers simply watch on unimpressed, Sterling decides to act. Demanding that Mr. Laird hand over the ticket, the ensuing confrontation turns deadly. Soon Sterling finds himself at the forefront of a hostage situation, however he didn’t count on being opposed and his hostages become his co-conspirators. Everyone saw Mr. Laird win the money, now everyone wants it but who is willing to do what it takes to come out victorious?
One of Your Lucky Day’s greatest strengths is that it puts forward an intriguing moral quandary that allows the audience to ask themselves what they would do in the same situation. Of course the events that transpire in the film are at the extreme end of the spectrum, however it is easy to empathize with the characters when so many people face the same monetary worries. Your Lucky Day reminds us that the distribution of wealth doesn’t have to be fair and that there is little that we can do about it without resorting to extreme measures. Mr. Laird is a person of questionable character who wins millions of dollars whilst Ana and Abraham work long hours and still cannot afford what they need. Is the system broken or are we?
Your Lucky Day works best when it sticks to its core premise with a later tonal change distracting from what made the film interesting in the first place. Still, this is a promising debut from Brown, and it will be interesting to see what he does with his sophomore film. For these reasons, Cryptic Rock gives Your Lucky Day 3 out of 5 stars.
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