BAD COMPANY
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
Joel Schumacher, unabashed nipple-phile and destroyer of the Batman franchise, tries his hands at a comedic spy actioner. Chris Rock plays both a super suave secret agent who finds trouble in Prague, and his street smart New Yorker twin brother (Jake Hayes) who makes his way by hustling people at chess and scalping Knicks tickets (just the talents necessary for foiling terrorists and the like). His lady friend is sick of his shenanigans and things are looking down for our charming loser, so when Anthony Hopkins' CIA mastermind Oakes rolls into town looking for Jake to impersonate his dead brother and save the world, well… it takes a bit of convincing. Hence the Pygmalion/My Fair Lady shtick ensues, in which the slang spewing Rock is taught to evolve into the elegant Bondian spy his brother was. Waiting for plenty of silly fish out of water jokes? Then you're in for the time of your life, as long as you don't mind the fact that most of them aren't funny. (Save one, a Michael Jackson reference that actually forced a chuckle).
Faster than you can say ‘dog tired cliché', Rock and Hopkins become unlikely partners, and lo and behold they form a super ass-kicking duo - outwitting the baddies (including Peter Stormare yet again as a generic European heavy) by explaining that a terrorist weapon up for sale was designed by ‘Dr. Dre'. There is some decent camerawork at hand during the ensuing car chase, but Rock never seems comfortable in his role and Hopkins is just too damned old for this shit. Prague probably gives the best performance overall. And thus the question has been answered – “Will the tried and true Bruckheimer dumb-und-drang action style work with a post-9/11 mindset?" The answer, my friends, is a resounding no!