It is not in any way uncommon for two or more seemingly unrelated film genres to come together, at best resulting in, say, 2013’s time travel rom-com “About Time” and at worst something akin to 2011’s dust bowl intergalactic romp “Cowboys and Aliens.” A gritty street film with touches of comedy and a sci-fi angle that seemingly takes its cues from an abridged version of “Us” or “Happy Death Day?” Why not?  Could it work? With “They Cloned Tyrone.” the latest entry into an amalgamation of genres, it almost does, but even then it takes some time to ramp up. Luckily, by the time it does, it’s already hit the ground running in a way that allows for some surprisingly high-quality performances and a pace that somehow manages to command attention. 
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From director Juel Taylor, making his debut in the chair as well as having co-authored the screenplay, “They Cloned Tyrone” is set in a rough neighborhood that may or may not be adjacent to an unnamed major city. Fontaine (John Boyega) is a drug dealer with a difficult home life and background, who finds himself gunned down following a routine collection of money owed him from local pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx). However, after the next day sees Fontaine back to his usual routine much to the shock of Slick, the two then team up with Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), one of Fontaine’s workers, to figure out how exactly Fontaine is still seemingly alive. It’s a journey that will lead to an underground lab, a bizarre powder somehow mixed into the area’s food and consumer product supply that causes unusual personality changes in those who ingest it, and a massive conspiracy overall.  It’s not hard to see the film’s pivot into a variety of left fields as it progresses, and shockingly becomes more competent as it goes on, even when the pivots start to become all the more strange. 
The gritty visual aesthetic evokes any episode of “The Wire,” and an unexpected dose of humor manifests whenever the film needs it most, usually stemming from Foxx’s role as the primary source of jokes or amusing reactions. Acceptance, it would seem, is the name of the game here. It’s best to keep an open mind as the first act sets up something entirely different from what one might expect, but by the time the climactic third act rolls around, when all apparent questions have been answered, the film allows for some genuinely outstanding moments, such as an honestly emotional scene involving Boyega and his mother, a shut-in who speaks to her son through a closed door and only uses him as a source of meals. Unfortunately, such moments are offset by those involving the likes of Kiefer Sutherland, who shows up midway through to answer those questions but ultimately reveals a motivation that still seems unclear as the film draws to a close. As mentioned, it also takes some time to get to a point where the meat of the film justifies the many minutes that precede it, and it’s hard to say if the journey is worth it in the end. 
Luckily, it’s not without those dedicated performances, with Boyega and Foxx inhabiting their roles with ease and Parris bringing some much-needed zest that helps to energize any scene she shares with her two co-stars.  The conspiracy angle and the big reveals do work, but it does require the viewer to take in the entirety of “They Cloned Tyrone” as a whole, even when plotlines like the mysterious substance mentioned earlier take their cue from the Smylex chemical in 1989’s “Batman.”  Like a patchwork quilt, the film contains enough familiar components to deliver something watchable, at its lowest point feeling copycat and happily familiar at its peaks.
“They Cloned Tyrone” is far from bad, but does require patience and the ability to shed those feelings of “I’ve seen this before” that pop up from time to time. Fortunately, the cast is here to help usher one along and maintain some sort of momentum before the film starts propelling forward on its own. The title may be referring to its many ingredients, which clone themselves in many ways, but don’t let this dissuade you. In its knack for bringing together a lot, it manages to become almost original. [C+]
“They Cloned Tyrone” is available now on Netflix.