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"Bait".
. .
A
Foxx-y Oscar Contender?
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BAIT
Yes,
it is a movie that stars Jamie Foxx.
No,
it doesn't suck.
No,
this isn't a joke.
Now,
everyone knows that most Oscar |
nominees
are released during the fall season. Luckily for the Academy Awards,
fall doesn't start until Friday, September 22. So "Bait,"
which hit movie theaters on September 15, came out early enough to
fall into the typical action-comedy category of movies that normally
wind up on the Oscars only because of special effects or soundtracks.
Still, compared to some of the other losers that have been released
this summer, you might think "Bait" is in a dead heat with
"American Beauty" for Best Picture.
In
"Bait," Foxx stars as a not-so-bright shrimp thief who is
used by a federal investigator to help catch the perpetrator of a $42
million robbery. The investigator, played by David Morse ("The
Rock," "The Green Mile"), busts Foxx out of jail,
implants a tracking device in his jaw, and sweats it out as Foxx
narrowly avoids a return trip to jail--several times. Eventually,
Foxx figures it out, and then the real fun begins.
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As
usual, Foxx's muttered one-liners and rhetoric are the backbone of
his performance, but unlike his previous movies, they are also the
backbone of the movie. In his last big movie, "Any Given
Sunday," Foxx is easily outshined by veteran actors such as Al
Pacino and Dennis Quaid. In "Bait," Morse is average at
best, and the villain (Doug Hutchison, also from "The Green
Mile") was so much a copy of John Malkovich that it was hard to |
Jamie
Foxx |
ignore.
However, Foxx's performance, surprisingly, more than covers for the
lackluster showings by the rest of the crew.
If
you compare it to some of the famous movies in the action genre (the
"Lethal Weapon" series, the "Die Hard" series),
"Bait" comes nowhere close. But if you put it up against
some of this summer's previous releases ("Mission Impossible
2," "Gone in 60 Seconds"), "Bait" is
possibly the #3 action flick of the season, behind
"Gladiator" and "The Patriot."
All
that despite its one glaring deficiency:
It
stars Jamie Foxx.
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