Day Shift

 

Stuntman J.J. Perry's directorial debut, Day Shift, is a martial-arts / vampire slayer / buddy comedy / family crisis mashup that will be a payday for star Jamie Foxx, who does that vulgar / irritable / lovable thing he does, and his co-stars Dave Franco and Snoop Dogg, doing their respective frantic beta-male and dapper stoner things. The results are bankable but not that memorable.

The picture is set in an alternate universe LA where vampires have descended in hives and are led by chief bloodsucker Audrey (Karla Souza) in taking over valuable real estate (yes, the parallels to immigrant invasion are pretty blatant). We follow the exploits of Foxx's Bud Jablonski, a hair-trigger slayer and fang harvester on the outs with his wife (Megan Good) but doing the dad thing for his daughter (cutie Zion Broadnax).

He's been kicked out of the slayers union for not following protocol but is given a last chance to redeem himself with an assist from Snoop's Big John, on condition he takes Franco's bean counter Seth along on his hunts to make sure he follows the code. Aside from the vampire angle, the set up is pretty familiar as are the close-quarters battles and gun play (think John Wick meets the undead).

Yes, it feels like a franchise pitch and might work with Foxx's considerable cache and the chemistry between the principal players. There is certainly worse fare in the streaming universe.