Kevin Pope (Chris Rock) was an undercover CIA agent who sacrifice himself for his fellow spy Gaylord Oakes (Anthony Hopkins). In order to maintain the cover identity Michael Turner, Oakes has to recruit Kevin's twin Jake Hayes to pretend to be his brother. Jake is a street smart hustler and very different from his brother. Jake doesn't even know he had a brother and they only have 9 days to negotiate a nuclear weapon deal with villain Adrik Vas (Peter Stormare). There is a terrorist group competing for Vas' nuke and trying to kill him. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Julie (Kerry Washington) is leaving him for Seattle.

My one big problem is that this is not funny. It's either a waste of Chris Rock or a miscast for this character. Joel Schumacher just doesn't know how to make funny jokes and Rock can't do it by himself. The movie is better off getting a tough guy to play this seriously. It's an almost functional spy thriller with some passable action. Hopkins and Rock have no chemistry at all. Sometimes the movie has good moments but overall it is not really that good.

Bad Company is an amiable but derivative spy caper with Chris Rock playing dual roles. One is a Preppie CIA spy who is killed in action. The other his unknown twin brother who is a ticket scalper and part time DJ growing up in the wrong side of the city without the breaks and money that the other brother had.

He is approached by Anthony Hopkins to be trained by the CIA quickly to finish the deal his brother started as they have nine days to buy a nuclear bomb in the black market in Europe. Cue some intense training and early morning cold showers as we go headlong to Trading Places land.

Despite Rock playing a part probably written for Eddie Murphy its an OK but silly action comedy by Joel Schumacher. Hopkins is too old to be a CIA field agent but seems to be enjoying himself,there are a few twists and turns and Rock is not too overbearing. Its a time waster, enjoyable enough but do not think too deeply about the movie.

7 June 2002. I went into the theater knowing that the critics already panned the movie. But by the time the credits finished, I felt hopeful. The production, cinematography was rich and deep, there was a feeling of seriousness but with a touch of humor. The blending of comedy and spy-thriller is not easy at all to produce and play well. But Anthony Hopkins played a CIA supervisor caught in the middle between someone telling him what to do and Hopkins trying to tell someone else what to do, a rather different angle and change for him. There was a seriousness throughout this movie that made the movie flow with intensity and Chris Rock didn't come across as some super hero. He came across as a serious actor who knows something about humor.

This movie was about relationships, loyalty, about a CIA that was portrayed more real than most movies. The CIA in this movie made mistakes, wasn't invincible, but pressed ahead. I loved this movie, the risks that everyone took on this movie. The critics apparently just didn't understand what they producers and scriptwriters, and what Chris Rock was trying to accomplish here. I don't like Chris Rock usually, but in this movie he really impressed me with his ability to be serious and at the same time funny. This movie was believable, even the bad guy at the end who made a strong statement about "why" there is terror in the world.

But Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins really were the heroes here because what movie really was about was people and what was really important about living. Commendations go to the Director, Chris Rock, and Anthony Hopkins for making a movie, getting out of the box and pushing the envelope by making something real, not superficially dumb. Chris Rock stood up for something that usually gets swept under the rug, and that is respect and devotion. He's not even the hero's hero in this movie and he doesn't try to play a role that's over the top here. And that demonstrates Chris's integrity as a good actor.