"Hey, how about a movie where a serious white
guy meets a zany black guy..."
When
I think of an average movie, "Bad Company" comes
to mind. Never before, have I seen a movie so
average in every imaginable way. It's not a good
movie, but I can't say that it's bad. It has
wiggled it's way into "no movie's land," where
good does not prevail, but horror is kept out.
The story (if it should be called that) is about
a top-notch secret agent (Anthony Hopkins,
literally sleepwalking through this role) who
recruits a street smart punk (Chris Rock) as an
agent, after his twin brother was killed setting
up a big criminal bust.
This movie falls under the heading of action
comedy, so it begs the question: Where's the
comedy? During the course of the movie, several
audience members roared with laughter throughout
the entire movie, so I'm figuring that some
people found it funny (these are probably the
"once a month" crowd who wouldn't know good
humor if it hit them in the head and cut their
legs off). That states something: this movie was
made for simpletons. Simple folk who have never
seen "Citizen Kane" or "Casablanca." Folk who go
see "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and
love it because they haven't seen any decent
action-fantasy films (and thus don't know the
difference between good and bad).
Back to "Bad Company." The action is also pretty
lame. Anthony Hopkins shoots, Chris Rock spews
wisecracks. The simpletons don't like the action
as much, because they saw "Bad Boys II," which
had more violent, more fast-paced action with
dirtier wisecracks in it. So the simpletons
laugh, and moderately enjoy the action. The real
filmgoer puts his face in his hands. Not because
it's an out and out bad movie, but because no
one else in the theatre knows that it is a
simply AVERAGE movie.
The simpletons don't know good acting, so they
assume Hopkins and Rock will be recognized at
awards season and are shocked when they're not.
The simpletons don't know good chemistry, so
they assume that Hopkins and Rock are hilarious
together (when they lack an ounce of chemistry).
In it's own way, this is just as bad as an F
film. This is a poisonous film. People go see
this instead of a movie of "Goodfellas" caliber.
"Bad Boys II" is selling out when "Open Range"
plays to empty theatres. It's a shame, it's a
SHAME.
(This review applies to roughly 45% of the
movies out there).
©
Written by Jacob Hall
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard
Propes' Comment
Like TC, I
would be tempted to plummet this film's rating
below mediocrity...well, except that that
Anthony Hopkins. While I agree with Jacob's
observation that he basically sleepwalks through
this role, I'd have to say that even
sleepwalking Hopkins is better than 90% of the
actors out there. Rock? This is nothing special,
and it's an incredibly inappropriate part for
him. Usually, I suggest that an up-and-coming
actor star in a film with a great actor...it's a
great way to learn the craft and challenge
yourself. In this case, it's just plain
embarrassing.
