Day Shift (2022)

August 19, 2022 5:49 PM

An LA vampire hunter (Jamie Foxx) has a week to come up with the cash to pay for his kid's tuition and braces. Trying to make a living these days just might kill him.

Also starring Snoop Dogg and Eric Lange. Directed by J.J. Perry.

56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

A Netflix original.

posted by DirtyOldTown (13 comments total)

The story is pretty by the numbers, but Jamie Foxx is great, Dave Franco is fun, and Snoop Dogg is a blast. Add in some cool FX--they clearly spent a wild amount of money--and it's mildly fun.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:19 PM on August 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

This was cute, in a big goofy way. Big John's disposition was a no brainer but still a pleaser.

Some of the choreography was entertaining, especially the cirque du soleil actors.

Yeah! There were a few good bits of CG, the early vampire damages and regeneration were well done.
posted by porpoise at 9:41 PM on August 19, 2022

The leads and contortionists were fun. I have no clue what the Union was or where it was getting their money. I was a bit nonplussed by how quickly they went from "all vampires are evil," to "you guys are cool."
posted by Spike Glee at 6:14 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

tried to watch this the other night and just could.not. that 56% is valid.
posted by supermedusa at 10:14 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like Dave Franco. He’s got a fun comedic presence. I totally agree that the contortionists and the special effects were neat. But this film would have been a lot less watchable without Snoop.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:48 AM on August 20, 2022

Is the thing basically a pisstake on Blade? When I saw the trailer, I thought, "Wesley Snipes must be blowing his top."
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:21 AM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Also, what's the deal with the movie posters on FanFare lately being in another language? Is it an IMDB thing?
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:22 AM on August 20, 2022

Sometimes a lazy Netflix movie comes out and it's clear someone early in the process said something like, hey, wouldn't it be cool if Snoop Dogg appeared as some kind of badass cowboy vampire hunter guy? And yes, it was pretty cool. But there's not much there otherwise, as you might expect in a Netflix movie. That said, I liked the rundown of different vampire "types," I love that kind of thing. That fight -- that included the Armenian (I don't think either actor was Armenian lol) hunting brothers -- was the non-Snoop highlight for me.
posted by grandiloquiet at 12:11 PM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have no clue what the Union was or where it was getting their money.

Does it matter? They’re clearly doing a John Wick kind of thing
posted by Apocryphon at 10:29 PM on August 20, 2022

I think there might be something interesting to analyze between criticisms of "realism" between 'John Wick' and movies that self-identify as comedy like 'Day Shift' - and perhaps the distinction between satirical comedy and intentional.

'Day Shift' falls squarely in the intentional while maybe aspiring to be satirical. Maybe playing it straight confuses things?

--

The Nazarian brothers were a win in my books. Entertaining, and the jokes were more subtle than the 'I'm currently watching 'Money Heist''s Finnish brothers.' Notably ... not toxic. Almost wholesome.

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For viewers who didn't like this, have you seen 'Nobody' and what are your opinions of the Odenkirk vehicle?
posted by porpoise at 6:44 PM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, right, the "Union."

It makes no sense economically - especially when the vampire hunters don't loot vampire residences or bank accounts. I wrote it off as an anti-vampire philanthropic trust that got co-opted by capitalism.

There're also references to 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,' so maybe there's Federal grants/ funding behind this.

The grading of 'harvested' vampire fangs feels video gamey but also government bs bureaucracy.

But if you're criticizing the economics of unionized vampire hunting without acknowledging the absurdity of the ecology of vampirism as shown....
posted by porpoise at 7:11 PM on August 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

John Wick is in danger as a series of falling for its own mythology and overdoing the world-building. The newest one literally has the Old Man of the Mountain smoking hashish in a desert tent. But Day Shift's approach to franchise-building is definitely reminiscent of John Wick's approach of having characters and places pop up and leaving the audience to fill in the blanks. The union's old-fashioned leaderboards with the vampire fang prices were very Hotel Continental-esque. Its approach to explaining the different varieties and behaviors of vampires, however, was heavy on the exposition.
posted by Apocryphon at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Snopp D-o-double-g was the highlight, but I do love me a good horror comedy and this scratched the itch for me. Would recommend for a good time.
posted by Kitteh at 4:26 PM on August 27, 2022