Miami Vice

The idea of director Michael Mann taking the TV show he helped create in the ’80s and reinventing it for the big screen might’ve been intriguing, but the execution is the cinematic equivalent gallon of Nyquil with a Benadryl chaser. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx play Det. James “Sonny” Crockett and Rico Tubbs, the roles made famous by Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in the TV show’s heyday. Credit Mann and company for not perpetuating the usual TV show update for the big screen, where the movie winds up being a lame parody of the program (Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard). This film makes a genuine attempt at being something different, and that’s admirable. Unfortunately, Farrell and Foxx have zero chemistry, and a dopey love-affair subplot between Crockett and a drug cartel honcho (Gong Li) drags the film down. The movie looks great, and I suppose there is hope for future installments if producers should decide to go on. They need to shorten the length of future chapters and inject a little more fun into them.