FILM OF THE WEEK: Beat The Lotto - Reviewed by Roe McDermott

Beat the Lotto, the latest offering from director Ross Whitaker, is a charming and light documentary that spins the tale of a group of amateur gamblers, hustlers, and dreamers who, in 1992, decided they could outsmart the Irish National Lottery. What unfolds is part caper, part cultural time capsule, and part portrait of the particularly Irish love of cheekily bending the rules and rooting for the underdog – though who the underdog in this story is less obvious than it seems.

With his trademark curiosity and affection for character-driven stories, Whitaker introduces us to Stefan Klincewicz, a moustachioed accountant with a head for numbers and a twinkle in his eye, who assembled a ragtag syndicate determined to buy every possible ticket combination and win the jackpot. Their plan was bold, audacious, and grounded in cold, hard mathematics, and the documentary walks viewers through the scheme with enough clarity and humour to keep even the most math-averse of us engaged.

The true joy of Beat the Lotto is in its cast of real-life characters, many of whom are interviewed on screen. These men, older but no less spirited, bring a warmth and wit that lights up the film, and their mix of nostalgia, mischief, and sheer cheekiness is deeply endearing. There’s a sense that what they were really after wasn’t just money, but fun, adventure, and the thrill of beating the odds – or at least of giving it a good go. (It’s interesting to note that no women appear to be in the syndicate though there was rumoured to be one woman involved, and members mention not telling their wives what they were up to, so there is – like many films about finance – a deeply embedded boys club mentality throughout.)

Whitaker makes full use of grainy 90s TV clips, old chat show appearances, and golden-hued footage from the era, which gives the film a kind of dusty, familiar texture, and viewers who remember the early years of the Lotto will find much here to delight in. The clothes, the graphics, the music, the very tone of that time in Ireland – it’s all there, and it makes for oddly comforting viewing, even when the subject is a potential multi-million pound scheme that was legal, but felt unfair to the average punter hoping their weekly lotto ticket could change their life. A testy interview between Pat Kenny and Stefan Klincewicz is spicily entertaining, and clips of Lotto representative Ray Bates are fantastic, as he passionately argues for fairness and equality in the Lotto. News cameras following syndicate members trying to offload hundreds of tickets in local shops feel like a wildly entertaining live episode of Crimecall, and watching the syndicate deftly turn the media narrative in another direction is a fun lesson in P.R. In this David V. Goliath story, the roles constantly change - and of course, for those unfamiliar with the story, the suspense of whether the scheme will pay off and pay out is well built.

That said, the film isn’t without its flaws. The pacing occasionally drags, with some interviews returning to the same points a few too many time. The dramatic reenactments don’t feel necessary, and there are moments when you wish the film would stretch further beyond the mechanics of the plan and explore the broader political and cultural context of the time. It hints at a wider national mood – one shaped by emigration, economic precarity and a desire to believe in something better – but never quite digs in. A deeper exploration of what it meant for Irish people to put their faith in a government-backed game of chance, or how that faith sat alongside growing disillusionment in other state institutions, would have made the film deeper and stronger.

Still, Beat the Lotto succeeds where it counts. It tells an Irish story that is funny, weird, and true, and does so with a lightness of touch. Ultimately, this is a film about belief – in luck, in numbers, in collective effort, and in a system that might, just might, be beatable. It’s about risk and reward, trust and trickery, and the uniquely Irish art of taking the craic seriously.

• • In cinemas now. Watch the trailer below: