Bait

Honestly, folks, "Bait" shouldn't succeed at all. The screenplay, by Andrew Scheinman, Adam Scheinman and Tony Gilroy, mixes genres with careless abandon; action comedy, espionage thriller, and African-American slapstick all take their turns onscreen. Director Antoine Fuqua did not distinguish himself with "The Replacement Killers," and he turns in an effort here which distinguishes itself primarily by its unrestrained excess and an overabundance of dramatic music. The plot slips beyond human comprehension every so often, numerous scenes don't really belong in the film or add anything to it, and the evil computer genius is played by Doug Hutchison, who can think of nothing better to do with the role than to imitate John Malkovich. Badly.

So there had better be a really good reason that "Bait" is one of the more interesting (if not better) action films to come out this year. That reason, ladies and gentlemen, is Jamie Foxx. As Alvin Sanders, the man around whom bewildering conspiracy theories and facts swirl thickly, Foxx manages to unify in his person all the distinct fragments of movie that surround him. It's not just that he's a brilliant comedian, although his numerous discussions of the difference between shrimp and prawns are hilarious every time. It's not just that he projects both intelligence and action-hero desperation, although he certainly shows both these quantities in spades during the hallucinatory, explosive finale. And it's not just that Foxx can actually act, even though he proves this in a touching scene where he attempts to reconcile with his girlfriend after he is unexpectedly released from jail.

Uniquely among actors in latter-day action comedies, Foxx makes all these qualities facets of the same character. When he is blustering and bluffing about his total greatness, one gets the sense that he knows he is lying to himself as well as whomever he is talking to. This makes his desire to finally go straight seem real and palpable; this truly is a character whose will to play around has run out. Unfortunately, Sanders can't get down to a nice life, both because of his hustling brother and because some Treasury agents have decided that he will make the perfect bait to draw a computer genius who has access to every government compute into the open. At first, Sanders is pushed around like the pawn he is, but soon shows an opportunistic intelligence and takes the conspiracies in directions no one expected, least of all him. Throughout, however, Foxx comports himself as a real human being, one who plays with words and situations in an attempt to defuse reality until reality forces itself on him and he must combat the various demons surrounding him.

Because Foxx's performance feels so real, we can simply enjoy "Bait"'s diverse entertaining features, instead of wondering why all this stuff is in the same film. Chief among these are, in no particular order: a team of surveillance experts who watch Foxx 24-7 developing hilarious sympathy for his attempts to go straight; two thugs who acquire a vendetta against Foxx but who are so consistently foiled by the forces around Foxx that they begin referring to him as "the devil"; David Morse's bruising performance as the hardest-assed Treasury cop the world has ever known; Mike "Next Friday" Epps as Foxx's scheming brother; and that action finale, which (apart from some brutally tedious hand-to-hand fight direction by Fuqua) hits the ground running and constantly ups its own antes.

Fuqua overdirects constantly, at various times using unnecessary cuts, nauseatingly wavering cameras, and obscuring darkness, along with his unending punctuation of everything that happens. Fuqua also doesn't really know how to give space to comedy; occasionally it seems like Fuqua is directing a different movie from the one Foxx is starring in, one involving a lot more ominous music and casual killing. Fuqua does do a good job in the few scenes that need the emphasis he gives them, however, and even Fuqua can't defuse the comic value of Foxx's hijinks. On the bright side, everyone except Hutchison was apparently inspired by Foxx's example to show up and act, and it must be said that Hutchison isn't flat-out terrible.

Of course, we should not confuse "Bait" with a great film; anything this carelessly plotted and ponderously directed is out of the running for such a distinction. But Jamie Foxx's performance makes "Bait" interesting, and certainly it provides more than its share of incidental pleasures. If you're in the mood for something slightly offbeat and mostly genial that showcases a rising star, you might be well advised to take this "Bait."

Action Movies Home

Movie Reviews Home

Spam-O-Matic Home