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60
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78
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55
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66
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69
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47
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86
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30
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45
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96
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88
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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xx
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63
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73
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xx
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74
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94
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29
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16
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75
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83
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61
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70
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46
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19
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66
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59
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34
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xx
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54
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76
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79
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40
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69
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64
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69
World's Greatest Dad
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69
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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Bad Company
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime
Written by:
Jason Richman
Michael Browning
Gary Goodman (story)
David Himmelstein (story)
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 7, 2002
DVD: November 12, 2002
Running Time: 116 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Czech Republic
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Gabriel Macht, Garcelle Beauvais, Adoni Maropis, Brooke Smith, and Kerry Washington
Gaylord Oakes (Hopkins) is a veteran CIA agent who must transform sarcastic, street-wise punk Jake Hayes (Rock) into a sophisticated and savvy spy to replace his murdered identical twin brother. (Touchstone Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: 8MM A Time to Kill Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera Batman & Robin Batman Forever Falling Down Flawless Phone Booth The Number 23 Tigerland Veronica Guerin
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Joel Schumacher directs with far less fetishism than he might have, while producer Jerry Bruckheimer kicks up only a fraction of the bull dust usually visible in his projects.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
There is much more suspense in this sequence than a similar scene in last week's "The Sum of All Fears" -- which wasn't intended to be funny.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Hopkins and Rock are a surprisingly good mix; Hopkins actually underplays his role as a company man with a barely acknowledged conscience, while Rock's manic impulses aren't allowed to run riot.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Anthony Hopkins, with a toothpick and a slouch. Fabulous!
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
It's almost impossible to enjoy this uneven but mostly exciting popcorn pic without flinching at a few plot elements that feel a bit too real for comfort.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
From the plotting and the characterizations to the explosions and excessive use of blue light filters, everything about Bad Company has been done and seen before.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Though they're a good pair (Hopkins and Rock), this isn't a very good movie. It's slick but hollow.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It's fast, snappy and entertaining in a superficial way. But it lacks gravity and authenticity and seems more like a product than an attempt to tell a story.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
It's fun to watch for a while. But the movie runs much too long, and a few funny bits aside, most of the comedy writing is lame.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
As in all Jerry Bruckheimer-produced summer blockbusters, the premise is paper-thin and the action sequences play out with assembly-line regularity.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Bad Company would just be another silly, intermittently funny, buddy comedy (Anthony Hopkins is Rock's training agent) were it not for a plot unlaughably close to current events.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Company almost seems like the product of a post-Sept. 11 world. Like a cartoon version of a real threat, the villains are terrorists of a non-specific nationality with an ill-defined anti-American agenda and a tendency to spout complaints too clichéd to take seriously.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I won't tell you I didn't enjoy parts of Bad Company, because I did. But the enjoyment came at moments well-separated by autopilot action scenes and stunt sequences that outlived their interest.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Feels stale, bloated and willing to get by on sheer familiarity.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Watching Rocks shows, we know he's sharper than the average actor. But watching him flail and play funny in movies that aren't as smart as him is simply depressing. Someone give this man a good role. And please, let him do a few more takes -- these scenes can't be his best efforts.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The motor of the plot, involving nuclear terrorism, not only knocked Bad Company out of last year's release schedule due to 9/11 sensitivity, it stops Rock and Hopkins from sustaining a comic rapport. The waste is criminal.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Some of this stuff is uncomfortably close to minstrelsy. Bad Company closes on a patriotic note in a brief scene that pays heartfelt tribute to the terrorist-thwarting sacrifices of the CIA. Timing is everything, I guess.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
Whether you care if they find them (terrorists) or not may depend on how much you've been able to withstand Bad Company's sensory overload of firefights, vehicular mayhem, techno-cool swagger and enough bumptious contrivances to fill several seasons of daffy prime-time soaps.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Schumacher doesn't leave an imprint on the film -- it could be the work of any second-rate director.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Leaves a bad taste, not only because of its bad-luck timing, but also the staleness of its script.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Bad Company is about an undercover brother, but it will never be confused with "Undercover Brother."
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Lacks the bite that can equal the Bruckheimer bark.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The main problem with this whole Jerry Bruckheimer-produced mess is that they took a promising comedy setup and squandered it by trying to make a legitimate spy thriller out of it.
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The picture lasts 111 minutes, partly because of numerous false endings. Now, that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The film was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Joel Schumacher, and reflects the worst of their shallow styles: wildly overproduced, inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one (and no one).
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A Jerry Bruckheimer production, which gives the movie a disquieting sense of stupidity.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Predictably soulless techno-tripe, this Bruckheimer-in-a-can thriller is leavened only by the ludicrous notion of Chris Rock playing separated twins.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
This cookie-cutter spy thriller depends on the chemistry between Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. Um, wait, there isn't any.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
If this it supposed to be comedy, why isn't it ever, for one second, funny?
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Like many of the nonpolitical terrorist-as-villain spectaculars that have been held back after Sept. 11, has the whiff of something gone stale. Though it may have sat on the shelf for a while, this project had gone bad long before it was released.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Sam Allis
The major problem with this alleged comic thriller is it is neither funny nor thrilling. Neither the heavies nor the good guys are believable.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.6 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a0:
In a word: Awful.
Al gave it a10:
Great!
Captain Craig gave it a4:
Hopkins and Rock are not a good screen mix. How that got a screen master like Hopkins to work with a comic idoit and think they actually work together is beyond me. The director couldn't decide if this was to be a real spy thriller or a Jackie Chan flic!
Ryan M. gave it a 4:
The first 20 minutes are ferociously funny, but then, for some reason, it thinks it has enough umph to be a full-fledged CIA undercover spy flick...which it doesn't.
Gilbert gave it a 5:
Takes "watchable but unspectacular" to new levels. Horribly unfunny and facile, while still managing not to be actively bad. Joel Schumacher can make classic cinema when he tries ("Falling Down"). But unfortunately, he doesn't, very often ("Batman And Robin"). Someone hit him.
DA Buz gave it a 10:
It's a pretty good movie, and chris rock is starring again!!
Chad S. gave it a 3:
Joel Schumacher reminds me of the Steve Martin character in "Grand Canyon" who swore off making films without any redeeming qualities. Apparently, the search for his soul began and ended with the excellent "Tigerland" because "Bad Company" is loud and depressing. The star-power of Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock acquaints the audience with faint traces of entertainment in spots. Too much bang, bang!
