Coverage:

Here’s a hint an a half for filmmakers who are thinking about using the word "bad" in their film titles. Don’t! You’re making it too damn easy for film critics to shoot holes in your movies, especially when they suck rather severely, as in the case of Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkin’s action/comedy "Bad Company." But why complain? The warning is on the label. "Bad Company" is a predictable mess, plugged into a lame plot that’s ill timed after 911. Rock plays a street-wise hustler who gets hustled by CIA chief Hopkins into replacing his long lost twin brother, a top CIA agent who’s been bumped off by terrorists while trying to buy a Russian-made nuclear bomb. In the midst impending doom (terrorists plan to nuke New York City by detonating a nuclear bomb in Grand Central Station), Hopkins has to train Rock to replace his dead brother three days. The joke in the film is the contrast between Rock and his dead brother. Rock like rap and has a one-line comeback for every situation, and his murdered brother his an educated lover of classical music. Oh, there are plenty of running gun battles and car chases, but the yucks and chuckles that Rock is so well known for, fall short as Rock just isn’t funny. At times Hopkins seemed old, tried and bored, and can’t wait to collect his paycheck. Suddenly Rock’s last movies, "Down To Earth" and "Pootie Tang" look like they’re Oscar quality.