I don’t want to waste too much of your time – or mine for that matter – talking about this insipid thriller. A remake of the far superior French film Nuit Blanche, Sleepless wastes a terrific cast on clichéd, bog-standard cop drama drivel.
Jaime Foxx is Vincent Downs, a very shady Las Vegas cop whom we first meet as he steals 25 kilos of cocaine from a gang of drug dealers. Unsurprisingly, the man who he stole it from wants it back, so he kidnaps Vincent’s son and demands the return of his coke in exchange. To further complicate matters, Vincent is being investigated by a couple of tenacious Internal Affairs cops played by Michelle Monaghan and David Harbour.
It’s a decent enough set up, and you hope it might turn into a propulsive, Taken style thriller, full of daft dialogue, laugh out loud action, and Jaime Foxx kicking everyone’s arse along the way. Unfortunately it just never gets going. It starts dull and stays dull. The characters are so poorly established you have no idea who it is you’re supposed to be rooting for. Foxx plays Vincent in a vaguely embarrassed, mumbling sort of way, almost as if he knew this was going to be a turkey.
This film is crying out for an injection of fun and personality – the sort of thing that overcomes the stupidity of the plot. Scoot McNairy briefly threatens to provide this with his performance as an unhinged gangster, but he quickly fizzles out like the rest of the cast.
Even at 95 minutes it’s a chore to sit through. Sleepless will be the last thing you are after watching this absolute dud.
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney, David Harbour, Scoot McNairy, Gabrielle Union Director: Baran bo Odar Writer: Andrea Berloff Released By: Entertainment One Certificate: 15 Duration: 95 mins Release Date: 11th September 2017
