Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Roy Hart
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
jasctweddle-823-352043
I'm not a paid shill nor am I on drugs but I thought this was exceptional TV viewing. Neither have I seen the Syndicate, so am not able to compare it as a copied version of something else (although it made me think of the UK series "At Home with the Braithwaites" - which was fantastic.) Winning the lottery (or not)is a reality of our lives so this show is relatable to many. It has some humour and lots of heart. The characters were all middle to lower income folk with different situations (ex-con, single mom, childless couple, parents living with parents, happily married Latino, Asian student with a pre-arranged marriage looming) so they show a different perspective about their lives than some viewers may be exposed to first hand, and made them interesting. It also made you want them to win. The robbery in the first episode sets up the suspense value which seems critical to the success of many TV shows these days. The connection between the employees shows individual character flaws and strengths. You care about these people. They seem real even though you know they aren't. The acting here was very well done. What a shame this show didn't last. We didn't contribute to the ratings as we didn't even know it was coming. We found it by accident On Demand and were pleasantly surprised. We'll watch the second episode for sure but wish there were more to come.
richard.fuller1
I just looked up three episodes of The Syndicate's second season on Youtube and even tho it isn't the same characters, undeniably The Syndicate emerged a better show, so why did the American Lucky 7 bomb? For starters, the show had virtually no publicity promotion and was buried on Tuesday night. I got to see the second episode before it was cancelled and quite honestly, it really seemed more like it could have been on an hour earlier.The deal is, even tho I haven't seen the first season of The Syndicate, that I can take a wild shot in the dark this Americanized version was going to be whittled to bits, polished up to quite honestly make the characters likable, whereas the English version, they were very flawed characters.In the second season, a lottery winner was an abused wife who couldn't leave her abusive husband. She wasn't strong enough. Someone else actually had to give her the out.Had this gotten the American treatment, she would have suddenly had the nerve, or more likely, she would have already put him out before she won the money, so she could be strong without the cash, then he comes back and she gets to tell him off that way.This is Hollywood's problem; too much soapboxing.What was seen of this second episode, with the two brothers, the one who didn't hit the other fellow, HE's feeling guilty. He would only be an accessory, but he's guilty! "I don't know, how can I look my kids in the face?" So the guy who was mugged, while he's in the hospital, it's learned he has a brain tumor. Now had he NOT been mugged, this would have never been discovered, so he is GRATEFUL to the mugger! The brother who committed the mugging, he smiles and tells his brother they are homefree. They did a good thing."I don't know." Come on, dude, take a side! This is the American touch, too overly moralistic.After watching what I did see of the second season of The Syndicate, I can only guess who the first season was handled.Lucky 7 must look like nothing more than a rough draft, an outline of the much more complete Syndicate.Unfortunately, I got to say, Lucky 7 deserved cancellation.
SnoopyStyle
The people at a small convenient store suddenly become millionaires after winning the lottery. Bob Harris (Isiah Whitlock Jr) got knocked out when the Korzak brothers (Stephen Louis Grush, Matt Long) schemed to rob the store. Samira Lashari (Summer Bishil) is trying to live her life without her old fashion father. Denise Dibinksy (Lorraine Bruce) has a slob of a husband. Leanne Maxwell (Anastasia Phillips) is a single mother with a secret. Antonio Clemente (Luis Antonio Ramos) got left out of the lottery.The pilot episode was absolutely awful. It was a complete mess. There was no need for it. The second episode was much better, but the damage was already done. ABC canceled it after only 2 episodes.The characters have some unlikeability problems, and the actors are all unknowns. This didn't really have a chance. They didn't really need to copy a British show. They already tried a lottery show back in 2006 and it didn't last much longer than this one. And back then the TV landscape wasn't as fractured.
Dr_Sagan
Haven't see the original series called The Syndicate (BBC) but the whole premise looks familiar.Anyway, it's about a group, of people of the lower working class, who won 145 millions in Lottery. For everyone there is a twist though that prevent them from being happy with the money they just won. Personal problems, A LOT of bad decisions make them miserable.This a TV-show that may (or may not) have the message that Money isn't everything in life. But to tell you the truth with 25 millions each they could turn their life in a careless direction and never look back. The whole drama seems unnecessary and with that kind of money they could easily change their life, and if not anything else, move as far as they can.The production is OK. Performances are OK too. The pilot sets the mood and the subplots for the episodes to come. It tries to pass some messages about the human nature and our society, but seem kind of pretentious.Overall: Give it a chance