Skip to main content
The Luckiest Man in America film image; man sitting in front of a large red buzzer

The Luckiest Man in America

This event has passed

In 1984, an air conditioning repair man (and part time ice cream truck driver) named Michael Larson went on the popular TV game show Press Your Luck and did just that. Never taking the cash, he wagered and won again, and again, and again, and again, sending the network execs into a meltdown. Admittedly, luck had little to do with it…

Produced by Pablo Larrain, The Luckiest Man in America shares a couch with Scorsese’s King of Comedy and Jonathan Demme’s Melvin and Howard, baleful critiques of the American Dream mediated through the boob tube. These are Frank Capra fantasies of the common man curdled with the knowledge that a loser on a hot streak is only ever on borrowed time. Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell), Walton Goggins and David Strathairn flesh out an impressive cast.

A delightfully sleazy ensemble thriller that goes down easy in 90 minutes — and yet another reminder that Hauser is one of his generation’s most interesting movie stars.

Christian Zilko, IndieWire

Director

Samir Oliveros

Cast

Paul Walter Hauser, Walton Goggins, David Strathairn, Shamier Anderson, Maisie Williams, Johnny Knoxville

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

English

19+
90 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Maggie Briggs, Samir Oliveros

Cinematography

Pablo Lozano

Editor

Sebastian Hernandez

Production Design

Lulú Salgado

Art Director

Diego Garcia

Also Playing

Force of Evil

Dir. Abraham Polonsky
79 min

Director-screenwriter Abraham Polonsky uses the mob-controlled "numbers" racket to highlight the soul-destroying elements of capitalism in this punchy noir crime drama. Introduced by Mike Archibald.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Wisdom of Happiness

Dir. Philip Delaquis & Barbara Miller
90 min

An audience with the Dalia Lama, who, at 90, looks back on his life and shares the tenets of Buddhism as a practical guide to surviving the 21st Century with joy and compassion.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Köln 75

Dir. Ido Fluk
116 min

The true story behind the greatest solo concert in jazz history, this is Keith Jarrett's legendary 1975 Köln Concert — as organized by 18-year-old rebel music promoter Vera Brandes. Fun, inventive and feminist, it's the Bend It Like Beckham of jazz films.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Urchin

Dir. Harris Dickinson
99 min

This impressive, award-winning debut as writer-director from actor Harris Dickinson is a probing portrait of a troubled street kid trying to get his life back on track before it's too late.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre