As the CIA works to secure a nuclear bomb from the black market, one of their operatives in the mission is murdered (Chris Rock). When they learn of the existence of his twin brother, they seek out Jake Hayes (Chris Rock) and hire him to replace his brother's serious position. This teams Jake up with an unlikely partner (Anthony Hopkins), throwing both of them into a tense situation as the success of the mission relies solely on Hayes' performance...

Bad Company is an interesting theatrical release. The film was released hot on the heels of The Sum of All Fears, two movies released on back-to-back weeks with a nuclear bomb and terrorists involved in the central plot. These films' releases are not necessarily at a wise time while things are unsettled in the Middle East and September 11, 2001 far from forgotten. Another thing about Bad Company is the curious pairing of Rock and Hopkins. These are two people I never imagined I'd see work as partners in a film. The end result? Well, the chemistry isn't all there, like that of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, but some of the interactions and just the idea of the two of them together is fun and interesting to watch. Rock's character seemed to have a very stand-up comic routine at times, which worked here and there, but not all the time. Would most wise-cracking street smart guys pick the CIA as a stand-up audience? I doubt it.

Critics have pummeled Bad Company. I kind of went into the film not expecting much. It was accused of ripping off a lot of other films to make up a lot of the scenes. Fortunately for me, I probably haven't seen any of the films it borrowed from, but complaints were made by reviewers that it did it quite often and wasn't very original. Given the fact that the plot wasn't especially complicated or involved, it was just a setup for the pairing of Hopkins and Rock, and for producer Jerry Bruckheimer to put together another fun, non-cerebral action comedy. And just because the laughs weren't the kind you frequently find yourself belting out in full force, it was the kind of comedy you can chuckle at or smile enough to be entertained.

Content-wise, Bad Company is better than you'd expect, but still a solid PG-13 rated film. Language is strong with at least 1 "f" word, and one or two possible mouthed ones, accompanied by plenty of other colorful words and phrases. There is some sensuality in the film, mostly while a girl mistakes Jake for his brother's cover identity. But the Rock's character deserves applause as he battles the temptation of a beautiful woman trying to lure him into bed because she thinks he was her boyfriend. Jake constantly thinks of his girlfriend back home in Jersey, and rises above the temptation to stay true to his girl. It's a definitely refreshing turn of events that is hard to come by these days. Most characters, sadly to say, wouldn't care and would just take advantage of the bizarre situation. Graphic violence is moderate here. We briefly see a couple photos of dead people with blood on their faces and such. We also see an intense sequence where a man threatens to cut the eyelids off of another man and gives that man a slightly bloody cut above their eye. Finally, we briefly see some blood beneath the shoe on the foot of a man who's just been shot there. There's a lot of gun fighting and shooting, a la James Bond style, that isn't very realistic, and results in multiple deaths, but they are not bloody or graphic.

I wasn't impressed by Bad Company, but it wasn't a total loss either. It's moderately entertaining, but nothing to write home about, and the content doesn't help it either. With that said, you may just want to skip Bad Company or catch it on TV someday.