The Day Shift is unpleasant when you want to be funny and funny when you want to be terrifying.
Anyone who wants to make a horror comedy these days has a pretty big ax to grind, where you have to be a true master to find the right balance between the two diametrically opposed genres. Now-turned-director, J.J. Perry thought he’d choose a vampire-horror comedy for his first, action-packed movie, so it’s no wonder his fangs were so badly “cracked.”
Netflix’s latest movie, The Day Shift, is about a man named Bud (Jamie Foxx), who pretends to be a pool cleaner, but is actually a vampire hunter. When his ex-wife (Megan Good) “threatens” him that if he doesn’t come up with a bigger sum soon, he’ll move to another city with their young daughter together, our hero is in a very awkward situation, so he pleads to return to the well-paid Vampire Hunting Association, but they put him by his incoming side The new green-eared (Dave Franco) who only holds him back – meanwhile, they also get involved in a massive vampire scheme, so complications usually fall on their necks.
The idea is quite practical on paper, because it sounds exciting, and the motivation of the main character can also be felt at a certain level. The only problem is that while watching Day Shift we feel as if it was a serious act of horror, but then they realized it was ridiculous, so they added some “jokes” to cover up their stupidity. their fault.
Photo: Provimedia
Jamie Foxx does what he has to do, he’s goofy, funny, humorous as often as he can/wherever he can, but you can see on his face that he’s telling the stupid dialogues of the horrible scenario as if his teeth are pulled out. And Dave Franco exaggerates his character to the point that he is quite annoying, so it is very difficult to find human support in this work – perhaps Snoop Dogg is rarely the only likable one, but in the end he also spoils the whole. With some silly notes.
The biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn’t feel borderline at all, so the tense scenes are weightless, the funny scenes are unpleasant, and the action scenes are boring – in other words, from this point of view, its makers have screwed up what they can, poor Oscar winner Jamie Fox is right there in the middle of it all, trying to put up with the slime that his production spits on him every second.
It’s a shame, because the stunts and choreography are very good, as well as the movement of the camera, but they do not quite find their place. It’s like watching a selection of clips, alternating mindless filming, not-so-fun jokes and scenes from a vampire TV movie 20 years ago – and here we immediately notice how stupid the vampires are: they blow, push, blink their teeth, and grab them. Opponents by the throat… only to be able to throw them away afterwards.
Photo: Provimedia
There was a lot of potential in this movie, because if the script had been put together a little more and the director had been more determined, we could have had a couple of bloody action scenes, which would have sometimes broken with a couple of scenes. Really good jokes, while vampires are really scary, and they are around throughout the tension – but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way, so we got “rich” with below average work.
The day shift is one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far, although perhaps no one expected much from it. The best word to use for it is “crappy”, in which almost nothing works except for the action scenes – but thanks to them there are at least a moment or two of amusing moments, but this movie can’t offer more than which – which.
More and more people are already saying that even with the best of intentions, mediocre works like this are “typical Netflix movies”, because nowadays it’s typical for the streaming giant to take a good introduction and then give it up – that’s the situation here too, which is unfortunate Extremely, because it wouldn’t have taken a lot of time for The Day Shift to be at least a guilty pleasure – regardless, many people might like it because of the amazing action scenes.
The Day Shift is now available on Netflix, you can watch its trailer here:
Cover photo: Profimedia