Sleepless

I remember when Martin Luther King Day actually meant something to America. My family and I would always take the day off from school or work to go participate in the march recreation in downtown San Antonio; and afterwards we’d eat some great Bar-b-Que and talk about what it meant for my parents and my grandparents to be alive during his infamous speech. But now all you get are crazy looks when you try and ask for the day off and the only true reminders you get of the historic march are memes from your former high school teachers and a day full of NBA basketball games that you now have to DVR because you’re stuck at work! I know that I clown my former employer for buying everyone fried chicken for lunch one MLK Day but at least they were in touch enough to order it spicy versus mild. I mean come on, Black people have hot sauce on their person at all times; you just never know when a random chicken wing or a popcorn shrimp will jump up in your lap!

Well at least Hollywood is still trying to throw us a bone (no pun intended) by continuing to release Black movies on this soon to be forgotten weekend. Sure most of the movies are terrible but at least you get to sit amongst your brethren while they sneak in food and yell things at the screen like "You go Denzel!" or "Ooooh Jamie, you sure are fine!" Nothing says Black unity like a public disturbance.

In the past we’ve been honored with such timeless classics as Ride Along, Ride Along 2, and the Marky Mark film Contraband for some strange reason. Well this year they decided to step up their game a bit by giving us Jamie Foxx’s latest effort in Sleepless. Now I’m a huge fan of Jamie’s but if he weren’t in this film, the only way anyone would have ever seen it was if they downgraded their monthly Netflix package to the disc only option. This movie was clearly made for action junkies and for Black people who will support anything that has Black actors in it. And when I think about it, I ironically fit into both categories; maybe I should have been charged double to get in. Anyway, as I watched this film, I could totally tell that Jamie also realized why this movie was being made, and that he chose to take the smart route and completely mail in his performance. Don’t get me wrong, he was still great in it, but this was more Bait Jamie Foxx versus Ray or Collateral Jamie Foxx. And if you still don’t know what I mean, see any post Analyze This Robert Deniro flick and you’ll eventually catch on. As a side note, isn’t sad that there’s an entire generation of movie goers out there that have never seen Deniro be good in anything. All they’ve ever been exposed to is grandpa Deniro; it’s like never getting to eat a Twinkie before the world got all health conscious, damn they were good!

Sleepless is about two rogue cops, Jamie Foxx and T.I. (yes, THAT T.I.), who one night decide to steal from the wrong man. They thought they were simply stealing from the low level casino owner Stanley Rubino (Dermot Mulroney) but they were in fact stealing from a highly connected drug dealer named Novak (the surprisingly talented Scott McNairy). Rubino is desperate to get Novak’s dope back to him in time for his big drug deal, so he attacks Jamie’s character and kidnaps his son to hold as ransom. So now Jamie must do any and everything he can to get him back safe and sound; all the while dodging the Internal Affairs agents in Jennifer (Michelle Monaghan) and Doug (David Harbour) who are hot on his tail.

The majority of this film takes place in a casino but that doesn’t stop it from having multiple fight scenes, shootouts, and explosions; with each scene seemingly outdoing the other. Everyone seems to be having fun making this film and that’s part of what made it so great, it’s pure mindless entertainment! I nearly stood up and cheered when Novak pulled out his secret compartment of automatic weapons from the bed of his truck and started unloading on people. Here they are having an all-out war in a Vegas casino and the only that stopped people from gambling was Jamie Foxx running over tables with a stolen Lexus. Nothing says MLK Day like drugs, guns, and stolen cars. Now I could go on and on about why this movie is worth catching in the theater but if you don’t get it by now, you never will; so I’ll just end this review here and tell you that Sleepless gets a rating of FRESH!