Bad Company (2002)

Director:

Joel Schumacher

Writers (WGA):

Gary M. Goodman (story) and
David Himmelstein (story) ...

Release Date:

7 June 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

Two Mismatched Partners. One Messed Up Case!

Plot:

When a Harvard-educated CIA agent is killed during an operation, the secret agency recruits his twin brother.

Plot Keywords:

Identity Swap | Impersonation | Humor | Assassin | Czech Republic

Cast

Anthony Hopkins	...	Officer Oakes
Chris Rock	...	Jake Hayes / Kevin Pope / Michael Turner
Peter Stormare	...	Adrik Vas
Gabriel Macht	...	Officer Seale
Kerry Washington	...	Julie
Adoni Maropis	...	Jarma / Dragan Henchman #1
Garcelle Beauvais	...	Nicole (as Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon)
Matthew Marsh	...	Dragan Adjanic
Dragan Micanovic	...	Michelle 'The Hammer' Petrov
John Slattery	...	Roland Yates
Brooke Smith	...	Officer Swanson
Daniel Sunjata	...	Officer Carew
DeVone Lawson Jr.	...	Officer Parish
Wills Robbins	...	Officer McCain
Marek Vasut	...	Andre

Also Known As:

Black Sheep (USA) (working title)
Ceská spojka (Czech Republic)
Czech Mate (USA) (working title)
The Double (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language.

Runtime:

116 min | Spain:125 min

Country:

USA | Czech Republic

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Canada:A (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Austria:16 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39081) | Iceland:14

Filming Locations:

Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Originally titled "Black Sheep" until it was discovered that there was already a film with that title, Black Sheep (1996). That film starred David Spade and the late Chris Farley, who both co-starred with Chris Rock on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). Ironically, the new title "Bad Company," is also the name of a 1995 film, Bad Company (1995/I).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The regular ring tones of a Nokia 9210 don't sound like other Nokia phones, since it has a real speaker instead of a piezo squeaker.

Quotes:

[after coming back from a meeting with Vas]
Gaylord Oaks: They put a transponder chip in the phone they gave you that tells them everywhere you went in the last two weeks. Which is why we switched the chips, so it wouldn't tell them you went to Langley.
Jake Hayes: And what if you hadn't?
Gaylord Oaks: They'd have shot both of us in the head. I'm feeling hungry, how about you?

Movie Connections:

References "Cribs" (2000)

Soundtrack:

Tonite

This movie is `bad' company for the serious filmgoer.

When does a knighted actor collect a paycheck? When he acts benightedly in a cliched spy thriller that is a virtual textbook of Hollywood expectations, right down to the scruffy mid-eastern terrorists and the oversized red digital readout on a nuclear bomb.

Anthony Hopkins plays a CIA veteran who must train a streetwise kid, played by Chris Rock, how to act like a real agent in 9 days. You can guess the outcome; in fact you can guess every scene before it unfolds. Movies like this make me know I couldn't do reviewing for a day job-I'd have to see bombs like this everyday. Did I say bomb again? Did we just have one come to America in `Sum of All Fears'?

I am committed to saying something favorable for all movies if I can. Hopkins is always interesting to watch: he underplays here with a `sang froid' that would make Hannibal Lecter proud. The bad side of `Bad Company' is the bug-eyed, monotone, hysterical Chris Rock, who may have been medicated for this role because I didn't have to cover my ears this time-I just bore up under his boring delivery.

Brooke Smith, who was the captured girl in `Silence of the Lambs', plays Hopkins' partner. `Lambs' this is not.

The film moves rapidly enough for espionage junkies. There, I said 2 good things. The movie still is `bad' company for the serious filmgoer.