Paul Feig Says Critics ‘Took the Biggest Dump’ on ‘Jackpot!’ and ‘Excoriated Us’: ‘They Were Trying to Find Meaning’ in the Plot

Paul Feig appeared on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast and spoke about the poor reviews from critics for his action-comedy film “Jackpot!,” starring Awkwafina and John Cena.

“Now I can be happy because we’ve been the No. 1 movie worldwide on Amazon for four weeks in a row now, which is fantastic,” director Feig said in the podcast episode, released on Tuesday. “But the critics excoriated us. I mean, took the biggest dump on this movie. All I can figure, from the reviews I read, I think they were trying to find a lot of meaning in this premise.”

“Jackpot!,” released in August on Prime Video, currently holds a 31% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Set in Los Angeles in 2030, the film follows Katie Kim (Awkwafina), who, after winning the lottery, finds herself the target of a deadly competition where people can kill her until sundown to legally claim the multi-billion dollar prize. Desperate to survive the jackpot hunters, Katie reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy (Cena) to fend them off.

Feig said with a laugh, “I’m like, guys, the only reason I did this premise is because it’s a Jackie Chan movie. Like, just a launchpad for a very funny person to be completely in danger and not know what’s going on, and then there’s sweetness and you find out their backstories. But don’t get mad at me because I didn’t do some polemic on the state of America today. I don’t want to do that. I’m a comedy guy.”

Feig is known for creating “Freaks and Geeks” and directing such hit films as “Bridesmaids,” “A Simple Favor” and “The Heat.” Earlier on Tuesday, Variety reported that Feig is set to direct “The Housemaid,” a film adaptation of the popular novel by Freida McFadden; Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried will star.

Listen to the full episode of “Dinner’s on Me” with Feig below.