Bad Company

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Deft, funny and intelligently scary.

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.

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.

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.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Anthony Hopkins, with a toothpick and a slouch. Fabulous!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Feels stale, bloated and willing to get by on sheer familiarity.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Schumacher doesn't leave an imprint on the film -- it could be the work of any second-rate director.

USA Today Mike Clark

Leaves a bad taste, not only because of its bad-luck timing, but also the staleness of its script.

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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A longwinded, predictable scenario.

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.

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).

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A Jerry Bruckheimer production, which gives the movie a disquieting sense of stupidity.

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.

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.

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.

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.