"Sleepless," a crime thriller starring Jamie Foxx, is so utterly generic that it's barely worth using proper nouns to describe it. There are cops and there are crooks, but any actor could have played any role, and the plot is so formulaic that the movie could have been titled anything at all.
That's too bad, because "Sleepless" was Hollywood's chance to remake the acclaimed French thriller "Nuit Blanche" ("Sleepless Night") for a broader audience. Foxx, a proven action hero ("Miami Vice," "Django Unchained") seems a good choice to play undercover cop Vincent Downes, and the new backdrop of Las Vegas comes with a built-in aura of money, sex and sleaze. The story, in which Downes' son, Thomas (Octavius J. Johnson), is being held hostage in exchange for 25 kilos of confiscated cocaine, has potential for cat-and-mouse thrills with high emotional stakes.
So what went wrong? For starters, Foxx's Downes isn't much to behold. Aside from being a total cipher _ no checkered past, no "Chinatown" regrets, not even an easy-to-write drinking problem _ he's not very smart and not very tough. He can't outthink Internal Affairs investigator Jennifer Bryant (Michelle Monaghan), who suspects he's a dirty cop, and he routinely fails to overpower the various henchmen who attack him. Downes' biggest triumph comes when he encounters a schlubby security guard and sucker-kicks him in the crotch.
At least a few actors try to add some color. It's fun to watch Dermot Mulroney's corrupt casino owner Stan Rubino go from cocksure to quivering as his plans unravel. Scoot McNairy, as the low-class crime boss Rob Novak, has a tightly wound energy. "Sleepless" should also be thankful for the dependably great David Harbour (TV's "Stranger Things," among many other credits), who plays Bryant's easy-breezy partner, Doug Dennison. Gabrielle Union, however, can't do much as Dena, yet another in a long line of onscreen ex-wives who come rushing back to their heroic husbands.
Baran bo Odar directs capably, especially considering the autopilot script by Andrea Berloff (an Oscar nominee for "Straight Outta Compton"), but "Sleepless" feels both plotless and clueless. The movie doesn't even seem to realize that its main character's name is Officer Downes.
