Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: David Frankel, Paramount+.
Jerry and Marge Selbee’s narrative was incredible in the best possible ways. Jerry and Marge Go Large is inspired by the remarkable true story of a retired couple who discovered an ambiguity in a local lottery game and exploited it for large cash sums.
With a sharp mind and a love for puzzling something out, Jerry discovered a mathematical loophole that he exploited to win $US26 million over nine years.
Furthermore, it was all entirely legal!
The couple live in Evart, Michigan. After working 42 years as a production line manager, Jerry retires and ends up figuring how to repeatedly win the WinFall lottery in Massachusetts. By purchasing a substantial amount, he wins more than he started with and Jerry and Marge decide to use the prize money to give a new lease of life to Evart.
After quickly calculating the odds, Jerry figured out that he was guaranteed to win money if he bought enough tickets. Hence, he tested his theory — and it worked!
For years, the Selbees drove from their home to Massachusetts where they would spend days printing tickets and then even longer searching each piece of paper for the winning numbers. However, they weren’t doing all this for themselves. It was for their community because they wanted to share their good fortune. They helped their family and friends and worked on upgrading their town.
It’s an amazing good news story.
He had quickly calculated the odds, realising the viability of the scheme which was just about basic arithmetic. They eventually set up a corporation called GS Investment Strategies LLC, keeping detailed records of their winnings and inviting a small circle of friends to join them.
This didn’t make Jerry (played by Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle) and Marge (Annette Bening, American Beauty, Being Julia) more greedy, but they humbly called their winning haul “satisfactory”. Neither did it make them extra cynical. The film celebrates a really “positive part of human nature that’s genuinely truthful.”
Jerry and Marge played Cash WinFall for the last time in January 2012.
