Day Shift

 3/4

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg, Karla Souza, Eric Lange, Meagan Good, Zion Broadnax

Rated R for Strong Violence and Gore, and Language

It would be a lie to say that "Day Shift" gives the vampire movie new life.  No pun intended.  Certainly not to the extent that "Daybreakers," an under appreciated vampire movie if there ever was one.  But the new wrinkle it uses is intriguing enough to make a silly romp like this work.

Everyone thinks that Bud (Foxx) is a pool guy.  But that's just a cover.  He's really a vampire hunter, and a damn good one too.  Of course keeping something like this a secret can strain any marriage, and his ex-wife Jocelyn has long since had enough with his lies and broken promises.  She's about to take her daughter Paige (Broadnax) and move to Florida.  Bud begs for one week to come up with the money he owes for Paige's tuition and braces.  To do that, he needs to rejoin the vampire hunter union, much to the chagrin of the union boss Seeger (Lange), who can't stand his refusal to play by the rules.  So he assigns a desk boy named Seth (Franco) to give him any excuse to give Bud the boot.  Meanwhile there's a sexy vampire named Audrey (Souza) who is intent on making Bud pay for as yet unknown reasons.

Forgive me.  I have made "Day Shift" seem more complicated than it actually is.  In reality the plot is thin and not especially well told.  But viewed in the right frame of mind, it's not a bad way to spend two hours. It's streaming on Netflix, so there's no need to pay money or go to the theater for it (if that was the case, I'd recommend giving the film a pass).

Given his start as a stand up comic and reliance on live wire performances, it's sometimes easy to forget just how good of an actor Jamie Foxx is.  But here he's coasting through on his charisma.  Bud is so laid back and lifeless that it's hard to care about him or his situation.  His co-star Dave Franco tries to compensate for Foxx's lack of energy, but there's only so much he can do as a dork who is so terrified of violence that he can't survive an encounter without peeing his pants.  Karla Souza has screen presence as the villainess but not the ability to chew the scenery.  It's a role that demands an actress go over-the-top but she can't do it.  The true scene-stealer is rap star Snoop Dogg.  His chill persona amid the blood soaked mania gets a few laughs and allows him to steal every scene he is in.

Stuntman-turned-director J.J. Perry doesn't seem to care if the story is interesting.  Or if it even makes sense.  His focus is on the action and fight scenes.  They aren't top tier and they go on too long, but they're directed with enough flair and energy to make them pleasing to the eye and raise the adrenaline a bit.  That's more than can be said for most action movies.

"Day Shift" isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.  But it's rarely boring and generates enough interest to make it worth a look.  For a "Netflix and Chill" kind of night, this is a solid choice.