'Day Shift' review: Jamie Foxx and the audience deserve better
Jamie Foxx, vampire hunter. Those four words pretty much sum up what's good -- and godawful -- about "Day Shift," the blood-sucking action comedy now on Netflix.
Foxx is cool to the max. The bad news is that this rehash of vampire cliches falls way below this Oscar winner's talents.
It's not that the undead can't be played for mirth and menace -- look at the Emmy-nominated "What We Do in the Shadows" on FX. Sadly, "Day Shift" thirsts for a transfusion of something fresh, ferocious and funny. You know, like what Taika Waititi does in "Shadows." If only.
Foxx plays Bud Jablonski, a Los Angeles pool cleaner who's trying to make extra bucks to support his soon-to-be ex-wife Jocelyn (Meagan Good) and their cutie daughter Paige (Zion Broadnax). Jocelyn threatens to move to Florida unless Bud can pay off their debts.
His wife knows nothing of Bud's secret job as a vampire killer. The gig paid well until Bud broke the rules of the international union of vampire hunters, earning code violations by selling vamp fangs to black marketeer Troy (Peter Stormare). The older the vamp, the bigger the score.
In the first scene, Bud takes down a grandma who quickly morphs into a bullet-fast creature of the night until Bud finishes her off with a silver bullet. What Bud doesn't know is that the old lady is an adored relative of Audrey (Karla Souza), a Spanish-speaking vampire queen who's invented a sunscreen that enables her to walk in the sunlight. Listen up, "Shark Tank!"
Talk about leaping to the head of the vamp food chain. Audrey is also a real-estate mogul which makes her L.A. royalty. Souza gives the role everything she's got -- she wouldn't look out of place among the reality hotties on "Selling Sunset." And her killer instinct beats them all.
But Audrey is yet another character the script fails to develop. What focus "Day Shift" has is aimed at Foxx and Dave Franco as his partner Seth, a pencil-pusher who knows all there is to know about vampires, but faints dead away at the sight of one.
It's union boss Seeger (Eric Lange), who teams Bud with Seth so the nerd can spy on Bud and nail him for union violations. Of course, the odd couple form a tight bond. They both jones for "Twilight." Foxx and Franco improv like crazy to drum up a few laughs, but even their crackling comic teamwork can't save the movie from its fatal attraction to the cheap and superficial.
How does the film let the effortless magnetism of Snoop Dogg as vamp terminator Big John get lost in the shuffle? For Snoop, stillness is a super-power. Sadly, stunt coordinator J.J. Perry ("Fast and Furious," "John Wick"), in his feature directing debut, is afraid to stop the action for a second to let genuine feeling sneak in.
Take the car chase in which Paige sits in the front seat with her dad, oblivious to the screeching car-mageddon around her. Why? Because she's glued to the automotive frenzy of the video game on her laptop in which cartoon violence leaves no impact.
As for the few fight scenes that do work, Perry soon deadens them with repetition. You leave "Day Shift" feeling pummeled, beaten down by an avalanche of sound and fury signifying the usual nothing.
Foxx deserved better. So did the audience.
