Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. IFC Films opens “The Luckiest Man in America” on April 4, 2025.

At their best, game shows have always been defined by their juxtaposition of genuine stakes and utter ridiculousness. Audiences see flashing lights, gaudy neon color palettes, and spray-tanned hosts with unconvincingly dyed hair, but contestants see a battlefield where fortunes can be won and lost. Daytime shows revolve around games of chance deemed simple enough to provide the most mindless of background noise while people do chores around the house, but the money involved often has life-changing implications for those involved.

Samir Oliveros’ “The Luckiest Man in America” successfully exploits that tension in its semi-fictionalized telling of Michael Larson’s (Paul Walter Hauser) record shattering 1984 win on “Press Your Luck,” in which he took home over $110,000 by figuring out that the show’s seemingly randomized wheel...