Title – Day Shift (2022)
Director – J.J Perry (feature debut)
Cast – Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Karla Souza, Snoop Dogg, Meagan Good
Plot – Los Angeles pool cleaner/vampire hunter Bud Jablonski (Foxx) teams up with mild mannered office worker Seth (Franco) to track down and terminate as many vampires as possible as Bud aims to win back the affections of his estranged partner and daughter.
“You are in for a treat.”
Review by Eddie on 17/08/2022
Never bothering to mask what it is and who it’s made for, Netflix’s latest high profile original offering Day Shift is very much the film promised in its marketing materials as Jamie Foxx’s pool cleaner/vampire hunter Bud Jablonski gets teamed up with Dave Franco’s timid and softly spoken Seth as the two mismatched humans traverse the cityscape of Los Angeles on the quest to hunt down vampires living amongst the living.
Directed by stuntman extraordinaire J.J Perry in his feature debut, graduating from behind the scenes roles in films such as John Wick: Chapter 2, The Fate of the Furious and Warrior, Day Shift mixes in some impressive action with some less than impressive comedy, drama and fantasy but by understanding what it is and what its audience will want from it, Perry’s film is an instantly forgettable exercise that still manages to provide some decent enough entertainment, making it an above average feature when compared directly to most of what Netflix has to offer in an original content comparison.
Capturing the sights and sounds of L.A in a totally generic but colorful way, Perry has a lot of fun setting up his world of modern day vampire hunters in a far more non-traditional sense than is usually expected when it comes to the fanged creatures and one senses that should this brand continue into another venture there are a lot of angles to explore that would be far more interesting than Jablonski’s quest to reunite with his partner and child or Karla Souza’s bland plan to unleash vampiric hell on the City of Angels through her lifeless character of Audrey San Fernando.
Unable to fully unpack or dive into the many ideas presented in the early stages of his film, Perry does struggle to maintain momentum that is gained in the initial stages of Day Shift’s adventure as a more boorish back and forward exercise between Jablonski and Seth takes centre stage and while Foxx and Franco do share a few nice moments their characters and chemistry aren’t enough to keep things ticking along as Day Shift hurtles towards its conclusion that is only enlivened by the appearance of Snoop Dogg’s Big John Elliot and his not so little friend Big Bertha.
Final Say –
There’s some great ideas in Day Shift and some fun to be had along the way but while inoffensive in its mediocrity, you can’t deny feeling that with a little more finessing, Day Shift might just have been one of Netflix’s best chances to surprise us all and create a genuine cult classic in waiting.
2 1/2 stolen yogurt containers out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
Hate to see this one didn’t score better than it did. I was iffy about it, then watched the trailer and thought it might be better than average. But all I’m reading says otherwise. Seems like it might be enough fun to give it a try though.
I did have some fun with this film but its totally forgettable. First 30 minutes shows some promise it never enacts upon but I have seen Netflix do far worse than this recently.
E
After watching it I can say I couldn’t agree with you more. The humor fell short for me. I was hoping it would have me laughing as much as I did in Shaun of the Dead or Cockneys vs Zombies but it didn’t even come close. But the action scenes were awesome, over the top violent, and a lot of fun. So that redeemed it slightly for me.
I think you’re spot on mate, the humor here just never really hit the way you would have liked, I do think it had something too do with the lack of chemistry between Foxx and Franco to.
E
” inoffensive in its mediocrity” seems to be Netflix’s main aim, I sometimes feel. And yeah, I’ll probably watch this when I need some daft fun so maybe I shouldn’t judge!
Daft fun it provides. Weirdly I feel like it could have actually been a lot better but it does peter out a fair bit from the halfway mark.
E