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Parents' Guide to

Bad Company

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Nuclear-bomb-in-NYC plot leaves sour aftertaste.

Movie PG-13 2002 117 minutes
Bad Company Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In BAD COMPANY, Chris Rock plays Jake Hayes, a streetwise hustler who finds out that not only did he have an identical twin brother who was adopted while he was shuttled to foster homes, but that his brother was a brilliant, sophisticated spy, and that he was killed just as a crucial future-of-the-world-depends-in-it deal was about to be concluded. His brother's partner, Gaylord Oakes (Anthony Hopkins), a spy so cool that he chews gum while he shoots people, recruits Hayes to take his brother's place. Oakes has nine days to train Hayes and is instructed by his supervisor not to tell him that he may be killed.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This generic summer popcorn movie would be instantly forgettable if not for the sour aftertaste left by its climax, with a nuclear bomb set to explode in New York City's Grand Central Station. We are just not ready for a scene like that, and it would not be so bad if we never were again.

Rock is not an actor. He can barely get through the part of Hayes, which is written around his strengths, and his brief attempt to play the spy brother is painful to watch. Every so often, the script lets him go into one of his stand-up rants and his charm and wit come alive. Hopkins, of course, is a magnificent actor, and he does his best to create a real character out of the cardboard script.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the fact that this film, which includes a plot to set off a nuclear bomb in NYC, was released in 2002, a year after 9/11. Do you think the timing was just a case of the film already being in production and too late to modify, or do you think filmmakers might have wanted to try to capitalize on the national attention to terror plots? What responsibilities do you think filmmakers have when it comes to creating films with stories similar to real-life tragic events?

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