Susan Granger’s review of “BAIT” (Warner Bros.)
Motor-mouthed comedian Jamie Foxx’s thriller-comedy may be called “Bait” but never it grabs the hook. Foxx plays a good-natured, small-time thief on parole who, as the story begins, is caught stealing prawns from a Brooklyn restaurant with his brother (Mike Epps). What the hapless brothers don’t realize is that, across town, two professional criminals are lifting $42 million in gold bars from the Federal Reserve. But Foxx finds himself sharing a jail cell on Rikers Island with one of the pros (Robert Pastorelli), who has buried the loot in a secret location and then suddenly dies of a heart attack. Thinking he can use Foxx as “bait” to track down the other pro (Doug Hutchinson), a computer wizard who masterminded the “heist of the decade,” a ruthless treasury investigator (David Morse) has a tiny, satellite-controlled radio device that continually broadcasts his location secretly implanted in Foxx’s jaw. Knowing that the high-tech hacker can get into their computers, the agent sends internal Treasury e-mails implying that Foxx is actually an undercover agent who has discovered the whereabouts of the stolen gold. The ploy succeeds but soon the petty criminal finds he, his girl-friend (Kimberley Elise) and their baby son are in danger. Three writers – Tony Gilroy, Andrew and Adam Scheinman – and director Antoine Fuqua (“The Replacement Killers”) make the fragmented plot almost incomprehensible. The only thing that’s made abundantly clear is the difference between shrimp and prawns, and that Hutchinson is trying to imitate John Malkovich. Plus, the galloping finale at the racetrack is simply ludicrous. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bait” is a dismal 3. The hip-hop soundtrack rocks, but Jamie Foxx needs far better material if he wants to be a major movie star.
