By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

Jerry & Marge Go Large is the vaguely “based on a true story” tale of Jerry Selbee (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Marge (Annette Bening), an older married couple who discover a loophole that lets them win the lottery every three weeks without fail.

Jerry has just retired from his job at the cornflakes factory after several decades, and is stuck in a rut, unsure of what to do with his free time. Having always understood numbers better than people, he is the first to discover a loophole in the game WinFall, that allows him to always win if he buys over a certain amount of tickets, doubling his money in the process.

The couple starts driving from their small town in Michigan to a convenience store in Massachusetts in order to buy thousands of tickets at a time from a manager (Rainn Wilson) who lets them use his machine for a cut. They create a whole racket around their money-winning scheme, but there is a sense it can’t last. The film’s main subplot involves a cocky MIT student named Tyler Langford (Uly Schlesinger), who discovers the same mathematical equation and tries to game the system for his own gain.

Directed by David Frankel (whose previous films include The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me, and Collateral Beauty), Jerry & Marge Go Large is a mostly lighthearted comedy that is carried by a pair of decent performances from Cranston and Bening. Cranston is somewhat in Malcolm in the Middle mode for parts of it (obsessively buying lottery tickets could have easily been a storyline for his character on that show), while also nicely delivering a few quieter moments later on.

The film’s more sitcom-ish impulses (including the jaunty musical score and bright cinematography) keep it from truly soaring, and there is probably a darker, more energizing version of this movie that could have been made out of this intriguing premise. But, if Jerry & Marge Go Large never quite kicks into higher gear, it still occupies a mostly pleasant middle ground that does keep it pretty agreeable to watch as a well-intentioned boomer dramedy. It’s an easily diverting film that offers enough fun and enjoyable moments along the way to mildly recommend it.

Bonus Features (DVD):

The DVD includes no bonus features, not even a digital copy code. Not surprising since the film was made for streaming and premiered on Paramount+, but this is the definition of a barebones physical release.

Jerry & Large Go Marge is a Paramount Home Entertainment release. It’s 96 minutes and rated PG.

Street Date: November 15th, 2022