THE JACKPOT (1950)

The idea of a random family man winning a jackpot sounds promising, but I don't think I even cracked smile during this comedy.  It takes the jackpot winner, Jimmy Stewart, 25 minutes to even win the $24,000 jackpot and then when he does the jackpot isn't even $24,000 cash but instead a bunch of random bullshit worth $24,000.  And when I mean bullshit I mean bullshit.  An artist to paint my portrait (no thanks), an interior decorator (go away), a horse (what the fuck am I gonna do with a horse?), an entire butchered cow (what?!), a few thousand cans of soup (too much salt, go fuck yourself) and so on and so on.

This jackpot turns Stewart's life upside down when he realizes that he suddenly owes the IRS over 7 grand worth of taxes on all of this crap cluttering up his house, so without any internet to help him sell everything he goes about selling on his own.  All kinds of depressing situations arise (fired from his job, arrested, fights with wife) due to his unwise decisions (selling personal items at the department store he works at, trying to sell a diamond ring to a hood in an illegal gambling hall, spending a lot of time alone with the attractive portrait artist) and not a single bit of it is funny.

I love Jimmy Stewart and I was pleasantly surprised to see so many familiar faces among the supporting cast, but THE JACKPOT didn't do anything for me.  Maybe it was hilarious back in 1950 and/or you'll like it better, but I can't recommend it.