BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I picked the right squares, I thought I should be a contestant when I grew up. One of my favorite game shows was one that had a game board made up of 30 squares. Behind each square was a prize; the contestants would pick two squares at a time which would reveal two prize offerings. If the two prizes matched, then the contestant would keep the prize and the two squares would reveal glimpses of a rebus puzzle. This was a puzzle that used illustrations, letters, and numbers to depict words or phrases. The contestant who could guess what the puzzle was saying would be the winner. I felt my memory skills were exceptional, though I really had nothing to base this on. However, when I was very little a relative taught me a card game that had a similar concept as the game show. After shuffling the deck, the cards would be laid out face down in several rows. Each player would get two guesses at a time to turn over two cards. If the cards matched the numbers or pictures, the player would take the two cards. Once all the cards were removed from the rows, the player with the most cards would be the winner. I became quite good at this game, and would even play it by myself.      THROUGH MY YOUTH, THERE WERE OTHER television game shows I watched. There was one where audience members were picked to come up and guess the prices of various consumer products, from a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner to refrigerators and stoves. Another show paired contestants together where one would give a one word clue to try and get their partner to say the secret word. I would play along at home by turning the sound off and not looking at the secret word when it was announced and flashed across the bottom of the television screen. Then I would quickly turn the sound back up and guess when the person would say their one word clue. Though I did not keep track of all my answers, I felt i was getting a decent amount of the answers correctly. Since I was an avid reader from a young age, my favorite type of game shows involved words, whether putting them in a crossword puzzle, or trying to make different words out of the letters of a single word; I always made a point to watch the television shows that involved words. My favorite was the show, “Wheel of Fortune” because it was based on a kid’s game I would play called “Hangman.” I thought for sure I would be a fantastic player to have on the show. However, I could never do what the main character did in this dramatic thriller.      JUST BY THE STROKE OF LUCK, an unemployed ice cream truck driver was chosen to participate in a television game show. It turned out his playing skills were off the charts. With Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewel, Cobra Kai-TV) as Michael, Walton Goggins (The White Lotus-TV, Django Unchained) as Peter, Shamier Anderson (Bruiser, Invasion-TV) as Chuck, David Strathairn (A Little Prayer, Where the Crawdads Sing) as Bill, and Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker, Chicago P.D.-TV) as Ed; this film based on a true story stuck out due to the wonderful cast. All the actors were perfectly in synch with their characters which was fortunate because the script needed a little more work. The story was amazing; I might have to search for old footage just to see how Paul’s character compares to the real contestant. The story takes place in 1984 and the sets and costumes were spot on. There were moments of tension, excitement, thrills and heartbreak; but I wished the writers would have fleshed out more to the characters’ back stories. But, I still enjoyed watching this picture and stayed engaged for the most part. It should be no surprise that there a was little part of me that wished I could have been a contestant on this game show.               

2 1/2 stars