Bad Company

Chris Rock plays Mike Turner/Jacob Hayes. As Jacob Hayes, he is a bookie/DJ/hustler who is coming to terms with his ending relationship with Julia who after three years is moving to Seattle to move on with her life. Jacob is brought into the CIA to help finish a case his now murdered brother Mike Turner was working on. Agent Oaks has 9 days to make Jacob as polished and knowledge as Hayes to make the mission a success. Jacob is to help twart a possible suitcase bomb from getting into the wrong hands. As Mike Hayes he has to speak well, and well act like his brother without blowing the whole case. Turns out he can mix his street smarts and get over. He can't fool everybody though. When Nicole (played by Garcelle Beauvais) she knows right off he is not Mike. Jacob has to dodge bullets, and is ready to leave the case all together until His girlfriend Juila is kidnapped by the bad guys.

The movie had some great action scenes. Some of the comedic lines were out of place, but the comedic lines that did fit well in the film were funny. The scene where puts Air supply son "All out of Love" on in a club was very, very funny. Those folks in the club looked like they were about to jump him!!! Kerry Washington has a bright future if she keeps getting some good roles. Irma P Hall has a role in the film as Jacob foster mother. Michael Early also had a very small minor role, so small and minor there was really no sense in him being in the film. The same with Garcelle Beauvais her role was so minor I wondered if it was really necessary. Aside of that I really enjoyed this film, the movie is predictable at time, but interesting enough to keep you watching. I would actually rent this again.

If you enjoyed Rush Hour, or Enemy of the State then you should enjoy this movie.

After a top undercover CIA Agent is killed in the line of duty (Rock), while negotiating with terroists. It just so happens that they are holding on to a rougue nuke; Senior agent Oakes (Anthony Hopkins) decides to recruit his identical twin brother named Jake (Rock again) to complete the sting operation.

Poor director Joel Schumacher hasn't had very much luck lately. The last good film he turned out was A Time To Kill, ever since then, he can't seem to find good material. The script falls back on every tired cliche` Of course the pair don't see eye to eye, Jake wisecracks his way through as a fish out of water, and is afraid of getting shot. The villians are cardboard cut outs of what's come before. For his part, Hopkins seems like he knows he's in a bad film, and wishes he had said no to the whole thing. Despite the gravity of the situation--no one seems to care in the story. There's also not much tension in the film either. It seems as though no one had much confidence in this one anyway. At 156 minutes, all one really gets is a few funny one liners from Rock, that are good for a chuckle--that's it.

Not wanting to throw salt on the wound, the DVD only has one main extra: a typical 12 minute long behind-the-scenes featurette, aptly titled, "In Bad Company". A few sneak peek trailers are included for a lttle padding.

Rather than call the film Bad Company they should have called it Sad Company...Watch some of Rock's comedy concerts instead of this piece of trash. Trust Me. You will have a better time.

Bruckheimer also knows how to draw in A-list actors. Anthony Hopkins is in this film. Anthony Hopkins! And he's paired with Chris Rock, who plays twins here, though the more refined, cultured one is killed off early on, and the plot has to do with the more street-wise half having to pose as his CIA sibling to make a transaction involving a nuclear bomb go smoothly. Hopkins plays his trainer, so you can see the filmmakers were opting for a mismatched buddy picture.

But the point is, there's very little about this movie worth mentioning. The premise is silly, but good action movies can be made from a lack of strong plot, right? Last year there was the wonderfully entertaining The Transporter. But no, Bad Company fails from the start because it brings nothing new to the proceedings. Everything is bland and predictable, all the way down to the perfunctory shootouts. The only bright spot is an energetic car chase, but even that is marred by Rock's awful one-liners and Hopkins' unconvincing bid as an action hero.

Hopkins and Rock display little to no chemistry. I cannot remember laughing once during the entire film, nor do I recall anything in the way of thrills, excitement, or fun. Jerry Bruckheimer won't be remembered as cinema's worst producer (Dino De Laurentiis, Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan have done much worse), but when people speak his name years from now, it probably won't be out of fondness.