Movie Review: Sleepless (2017)

Summary: A cop with a connection to the criminal underworld scours a nightclub in search of his kidnapped son.

Minor Spoilers ahead and a short review.

Pros:

The Acting. Not all of its good, but I think the actors are all good actors in this movie and it’s so sad that these talented people are so wasted in this movie. Jamie Foxx is a fine leading man, I like Michelle Monaghan, she’s good too.

The Action/Violence. If anything, this movie has some cool fight scenes going on. The scene in the hotel room between Foxx and Monaghan was pretty great, I made a joke about sexual tension between them (I mean, they have some pretty good chemistry lol). Later, there’s a fight between Foxx and some guy in the kitchen and that was a good fight too.

Cons:

The Characters. I feel like the last few movies I’ve watched, all of the characters have been idiots. They’re idiots in this one too. Foxx has to fake some drugs using sugar, and the dealers, instead of checking it in that moment, leave and THEN check it. I’m sorry, I know Foxx revealed himself to be a cop and that narcotics were coming to the door, but when the waiter (it’s a whole thing) comes to the door, no one even bothers to even ATTEMPT to check it, they just take Foxx at his word and he’s already proven himself to be untrustworthy. They all just leave. I was like WHAT!? Gabrielle Union’s job in this movie outside of being wasted, is to be the concerned mother and constantly call Foxx to find out what’s going on and she goes to find her son at the casino and upon hearing gunshots, instead of turning around and driving away, SHE GETS OUT OF HER CAR! Also, Monaghan and her partner (David Harbour) are looking for the bad guys in the casino but I swear they never moved from their spot on the balcony, though they talked like they searched that entire place. There is NO WAY they did that when we go back to them, they’re literally in the same spot and position they were before, having the SAME CONVERSATION! You cannot convince me they searched that whole place movie, you just can’t! There are so many other instances. It would go into spoiler territory and I don’t like to outright spoil anything. I just couldn’t take the stupidness. In addition, none of the characters were interesting. They were all just cardboard stereotyped pieces of a badly played chess game.

Racist/Sexist. This might be a nitpick, but I mean, the movie is already terrible, so why not talk about this? First of all, Monaghan’s character sees Foxx and  T.I. at a crime scene and she immediately gets suspicious of them, granted, there was some stuff going on there, but the fact that before she even talked to them she started to freak out, even made a comment to her partner about needing to take a shower and yeah Foxx gave her attitude back but that’s because she approached with an attitude… I was like “wow, you literally have no grounds for your attitude right now” and it came off really racist. Then later on, she goes into the men’s bathroom because that’s where she saw Foxx coming out of, and the black bathroom attendant is watching as she looks in each stall, after she asks if he’s seen anyone come in. He claimed he hadn’t but after seeing her look in each stall he goes “oh! You should have said ‘black guy’…etc.” or whatever and I’m like… why does that matter? She asked if a guy came in here with a big duffel bag but you didn’t see the duffel bag? You didn’t see it when he put in the ceiling? Yeah okay. I guess Monaghan’s character got her butt kicked by someone previously on a case, and everyone constantly asks her if she’s okay, it gets pretty ridiculous after a while. She even  brings it up that if she were a man, no one would be asking her that and that’s so true. It just happens throughout the film and it shows that she can at least hold her own in a physical fight. At least. Again, this might not be a big deal but I just couldn’t help but to notice it and it annoyed me.

The Acting. It’s here as well because while the actors are good actors and they are good, but they are given to little to work with that they can’t even make it good. Plus, what kind of direction is telling Jamie Foxx, a very charismatic man, to talk through clenched teeth, in a whisper where he glowers most of the time? Why tell him to do that? So dumb. Everyone would whisper at the weirdest moments, like they were trying to sound intimidating but it just came off stupid and bad. Also, the young actor playing the son, he was pretty terrible.

Plotholes. I don’t know if this movie thought it was going to get a sequel… but that ending though. So nothing was resolved in the end. But one of the biggest things is that we learn something about Foxx’s character, so when T.I says they’ve known each other for 20 years, and they’ve been partners at least for the past two years… I was confused. So, when exactly did they get involved in the mess they got involved in? And how did T.I., as his partner, not know that Foxx had stuff on the side? Were they both cops at the same time but then some outside people talked to Foxx about a side thing? I mean it just does not add up. Plus, Dena (Gabrielle Union), has a fiancée because I guess she felt that Vincent (Foxx) wasn’t doing his job as a husband and father, but at the end, we never hear about that fiancée again. Am I supposed to believe that she’s gonna get back together with Foxx after he told them the truth? Then of course, how deep the corruption go? So many questions.

Overall, this movie is terrible. Just from the opening scene, I looked at my roommate and said ‘I’m already bored’ and it literally just started. I think we both were on our phones playing games while watching this. It’s not interesting, the good cast is wasted with terrible writing, terrible characters, nothing connects properly, there isn’t a straight flow of events, it all just feels like it’s happening. I don’t care about Foxx wanting to get his son back because they don’t have a good relationship. I know the movie was trying to show that Foxx really is a good father and that he does care about his son enough to do whatever it takes, but literally saw nothing between them but one scene in the car and a bunch of exposition from Union in the hospital. No one cares about that. The characters are stupid and make stupid choices and think those things are enough to bring any possibly good movie down. I would not recommend this movie unless you just want to see Foxx in an action movie.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars. That “1” is literally for the fact that the cast at least tried.

Have you seen Sleepless? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts?

Do you prefer Jamie Foxx to be dramatic actor (Ray, Dreamgirls) or an action hero (Django: Unchained)?

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