Sleepless 2017

     This film is a remake of a French-Belgian movie with the same title from 2011.  Vincent Downs is a policeman in Las Vegas, he has a wife Dena and a 13 year-old son Thomas.  Dena works at a hospital and she’s moved on from being with Vincent.  She gets very irritated when he doesn’t do what he promises with Thomas.  Jennifer Bryant is also a policewoman and she’s on the lookout for dirty cops.  Rubino runs a large casino and he has many dirty cops on the payroll.  He’s made a big cocaine deal to bring in 25 kilos for Rob Novak.  Vincent gets involved in this deal with his partner and they intercept the cocaine for themselves.  Novak is a member of a tough crime family and he's a man you do not want to double-cross under any circumstances!!  

     There is a LOT of action in this film but not much of a plot.  There is substitution of action and tough characters for narrative.  It’s difficult to tell who are the clean cops and who are the dirty cops?  Vincent claims he’s working with internal affairs but he’s in on the cocaine theft so he could be lying?   Jennifer Bryant is censored for a mistake and she takes heat from everyone in the force.  I don’t know how Vincent is able to get in so many fights since he has an abdominal knife wound almost from the beginning.  He even fights Jennifer Bryant.  The soundtrack tries to create constant tension but the tension just isn't there?  Another fact is that this film is set in Vegas and you can never win in Vegas.  What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there either and Vegas never sleeps.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

95 min, Action directed by Baran bo Odar with Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney, Scoot McNairy, T.I., David Haarbour, Gabrielle Union, Octavius J. Johnson, Tim Connolly, Drew Sheer Sala Baker.

Note:  Imdb 5.6 out of 10, 21% critic 39% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 3.5* out of 5* with 203 reviews, The Guardian 2* review by Peter Bradshaw, 3* review by Simran Hans, Metacritic 34 out of 100 with 15 critics 4.3 out of 10 with 31 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Atlanta, Georgia and Las Vegas, Nevada.  Foxx was also a cop in Miami Vice of 2006.  Foxx said he wasn’t happy with the final cut of this film.  He’s in the film Baby Driver of 2017 released June 28.  This film has an Imdb rating of 8.1.