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Lottery Ticket | 2010 | PG-13 | - 6.5.5
A hard working teen (Bow Wow) living in the housing projects plays the lottery daily for his grandma (Loretta Devine). Against his better judgment, one day he places a bet for himself, wins $370 million and faces the immediate challenge of suddenly having too many new friends, as well as enemies. Also with Ice Cube, Keith David, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Charlie Murphy, Terry Crews, Bill Bellamy, Mike Epps and T-Pain. Directed by Erik White. [1:39]
SEX/NUDITY 6 - A woman wearing a tight dress invites a teenage boy to her bedroom, she stands wearing skimpy furry panties, bra and high heels, (the boy wears a tank top and boxers) and she attempts to seduce him with prolonged kissing, lying on top of him, ripping his tank top down the middle and rubbing his chest; we also the scene reflected on the mirror on the bedroom ceiling, he insists on wearing a condom, she grabs it (unopened), tosses it away, states that she deserves to be a baby-mama and get paid, says, "This [body] is my lottery ticket," and he leaves.
► A teen couple kiss in close-up, fully clothed: we then see them in bed (he is wearing a tank top and boxers and she is wearing a tight tank top and shorts that reveal cleavage, bare legs and thighs), she takes a condom from a drawer in the nightstand and the scene ends (it is implied that they have sex).
► Several shots of women walking away from the camera show wiggling buttocks in tight jeans or skirts. Many women wear tight, low-cut blouses and very short, tight mini-skirts and short shorts that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders and arms, and bare legs and thighs to the hip. Many men wear tight tank tops that reveal tattoo-covered bare arms and shoulders. Three men are shown shirtless and two of these men appear shirtless and in boxer shorts. A men falls and his jeans slip below his buttocks to reveal black opaque underwear. A man dances with his shirt open and we see his bare abdomen.
► A teen girl approaches a teen boy twice, whispers in his ear and sticks her tongue in it each time as he grimaces, smiles and shudders. A man threatens a male youth by telling him he will play with him sexually and crush his genitals.
► A teen girl in a crowd of admirers calls out to a teen boy, "I want to have your baby!" Throughout the film, several men refer to women in their teens and 20s as "fine" and sexy, with good booties (buttocks).
VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - Two groups of two and three men constantly threaten each other verbally: one man punches a man from the other group in the abdomen, and one man puts a handgun to the back of the head of another man, who spins and twists the first man's arm and knocks him unconscious (we see no blood or injuries, but later hear that the beaten man will be all right, but will likely never have children).
► A teen boy calls out a man at a block party and begins a fight that he loses: the man punches the boy in the face several times, and the boy spits out blood, an older man knocks the first man down, and he reaches up and grabs the older man's genitals, squeezing hard and flips him over; yet another man knocks the first man unconscious with one blow.
► Three men beat up a teen boy in the housing project and steal something from him; we see him unconscious on the sidewalk (no blood is seen) and later we see him holding an ice bag to his jaw and groaning (we see no marks or bruising).
► An ex-felon and his two friends carrying handguns threaten housing project residents several times in order to extort money and stolen merchandise (no shots are fired). Three men chase a teen boy through city streets and the subway -- handguns protrude from the waistbands of the three pursuers and the boy escapes. A teen boy pulls a handgun several times to threaten away people that try to get money from his friend, who has won the national lottery. As an ex-felon threatens his friend, a teen boy uses a gun and we see that it is a water pistol.
► A pastor during his church service pulls a handgun when a man enters the building; a youth exclaims that the man has come to be saved and the congregation piles on top of him with hugs, he shakes them loose, shouts at them to get away and the pastor and many congregants run out of the building.
► Three men enter a shoe store and demand that a teen clerk give them several pairs of shoes: The boy stacks several boxes on a bench, the men take them, and are arrested and handcuffed when the shoes set off the store alarm as they leave (one man tells the clerk that he will be dead).
► A warehouse scene shows two bodyguards near the entrance, holding automatic rifles. A drug lord and his assistant threaten two teen boys, but no physical violence occurs. A man threatens a teenage boy with crushing the boy's genitals and demonstrates by popping a basketball in his hands with a loud bang.
► Several scenes contain dialogue about violence in government housing projects and how it must end: References cite beatings, robberies, shootings, and prison sentences as usual fare in the projects. An older man in the projects lives in a basement that is damp and dingy, and the neighbors call him Serial Killer, although there is no evidence that he is one.
► A large number of people chase after a teen boy that has won the national lottery, hoping to get some of his money; he and a male friend run several blocks and jump through a bedroom window to hide, lying on the floor until the crowd passes by.
LANGUAGE 5 - About 2 F-words, 4 sexual references, 18 scatological references, 27 anatomical references, 48 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for African-Americans, name-calling (crazy, corny, hustler, punk, crack-baby, serial killer, Jezebel, liar, snitch, Cosby Kids, animals, tramp, Footlocker, slave, smuts, chocolate drops, rich rapper), 13 stereotypical references to African-Americans, blacks passing as white, Uncle Toms, rap stars, black pastors and churches, the poor, lottery players, black teen women, felons, prostitutes, 3 religious profanities, 31 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - Several scenes include talk of drugs and drug deals. A house party and a block party feature many bottles of beer in the hands of attendees (no one drinks), a grandmother sings and dances in her living room while drinking from a bottle of wine and her words are slightly slurred, a restaurant scene shows glasses of wine on tabletops (no one drinks from them), a teen boy pours a woman a glass of wine (she does not drink it), we see several bottles of beer and glasses of champagne spilling in the back of a limousine (no one drinks), and three carryout scenes show some bottles of beer in a cooler.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Government-run housing projects, poverty, gambling, drugs, violence and danger, friendship, family, trust, self-centered rap singers, self-improvement, honesty, compassion.
MESSAGE - Successful rappers from the projects should invest back into those communities.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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