Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Lost Lotteries’ on Netflix, Where Five Thai Strangers Band Together To Fight For Their Missing Winning Tickets

In the breezy Thai heist comedy The Lost Lotteries, five everyday individuals thrown together by chance must take on the eccentric and reckless local crime boss, his screwball henchmen, and even submit to being pummeled in an illegal backroom boxing match if they’ll have any shot at recovering the five winning lottery tickets that were taken from them at the worst possible time. It’s time to get creative, hatch a plan (and a plan b, and a plan c), employ some sleight of hand, and hopefully fleece the bad guys who originally fleeced them. “Who’d fall for that?” one character asks; “Only idiots would believe it.” You’d be surprised…  

THE LOST LOTTERIES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: For business student and chess fanatic Tay (Wongravee Nateetorn), daily life is just a series of bad luck episodes. In Bangkok, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, and many people turn to the national lottery for a little bit of that daily hope and salvation. Ever since his mom Toi (Thanaporn Wagprayoon) fell through an open sewer, Tay has stepped into her hustle, selling lottery numbers after school. But then Boss Chye (Anusorn Pinyopojanee), leader of the local syndicate, sends his goons Mee (Torphong Kul-on) and Doe (Somyos Matures) over to Tay and his mom’s house. And with no money to pay back the loan Toi took out, the lottery tray and all of its tickets is taken as collateral. 

Of course, that’s exactly when five of the tickets hit. But without the numbers tray there are no receipts for the winners, and Khung (Somjit Jongjohor), Zoe (Napapa Tantrakul), Beat (Phantira Pipityakorn), and Wen (Padung Songsang) want to know what Tay’s going to do about it. The bad guys won’t just give it back. The cops are either scared of Boss Chye or on the take. And nobody is a professional burglar by trade. What other choice does this thrown together bunch have but to listen to Tay’s outlandish and audacious plan to get back their lottery tickets and cash in on the future?    

“We’re not friends, not family. We don’t even know each other well. But today we have the same mission,” Tay says, and just as the newfound allies are triumphantly slow-motion walking themselves to heist movie glory, they’re intercepted by a truck and collectively soaked by a mud puddle. As Tay’s bold plan for disguise, infiltration, and execution is put into action, Lotteries director Prueksa Amaruji increasingly relies on flashy editing, visual gags, lots of goofy over-acting, and miracles of backup plan happenstance to hopefully reunite this ragtag group with their golden tickets to the good life. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Screwball gags and mistaken identity laughs are the order of the day in the Thai film Tootsies & the Fake, also on Netflix, while the South Korean action comedy Seoul Vibe pits a tough luck crew of friends and precision drivers against a powerful band of money launderers.

Performance Worth Watching: There’s a lot of hamming going on, especially once The Lost Lotteries shifts into heist movie mode and our heroes must play their roles inside Boss Chye’s lair. But Padung Songsang and Somjit Jongjohor as Wen and Khung really seize the moment, the former sporting a floofy blonde wig and feather boa situation, and the latter’s features becoming punching fodder for real-life champion Muay Thai fighter Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon.

Memorable Dialogue: Everybody in Tay’s makeshift crew is petrified by Boss Chye and his goons. After all, they’re just regular folks. But at a pivotal moment, Beat signs on to Tay’s big plan. “I’m in,” she tells him and the group. “Well, we can’t waltz in there and ask them nicely. We can’t go to the police. We can’t just burgle the place. So, why don’t we try this plan? Even if it sounds ridiculous, stupid, and impossible, it’s still better than sitting around and arguing like this.” 

Sex and Skin: Nothing here, beyond a few background mentions of the breast augmentation surgery Zoe hopes to get with her lottery winnings.

Our Take: Bikeman and Bikeman 2 director Prueksa Amaruji brings madcap heist heroics with zany sight gags, broad physical comedy, rags to riches potential, and a light touch of sweetness to The Lost Lotteries, where the big dreams of everyday Thai people – to win enough baht to achieve their dreams and no longer feel frustrated by a society full of haves and have nots – coincides with the simple and most rewarding moments in life, whether it’s the love of family or the satisfaction that comes from honest work and giving back. We aren’t given full backstories on Tay and Beat, or Wen and Khung, or on Zoe, but each of their hard-luck life stories are activated with a few notes of exposition before getting turned over to the actors, who flesh out this group with histrionic line reads, cartoonish reaction shots, and a lot of personal flair. We don’t have to see all of Wen’s failures as a bit part actor – instead, we get a snapshot that brings him to life through zippy editing and Padung Songsang’s ability to deadpan with the best of them. It’s a technique Steven Soderbergh relied on with the ensembles at the center of the Ocean’s films, and Amaruji leans on it a lot throughout Lost Lotteries.

Some of this style over substance stuff doesn’t fully land. Tay’s voiceover appears and disappears, he doesn’t break the fourth wall enough for the technique to feel purposeful, and the film’s preoccupation with (literal) toilet bowl humor and dubbed-in audio effects grows tiresome. But it has plenty of heart to fall back on, and that could be enough to manifest the Lost Lotteries sequel it can’t help but tease.    

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Lost Lotteries is full of funny little moments, a lot of them of the slapstick variety, that help make its ensemble of hard luck hopefuls a winning bunch as they attempt to turn a checkmate against life’s challenges. And if one of those challenges is sneaking into and out of a crime boss’s lair, then that just makes their plan more ridiculous.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges