Bad Company is a 2002 action comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins.
CIA Agent Kevin Pope (Rock) is killed during a mission, which forces Officer Gaylord Oakes (Hopkins) to recruit Kevin's twin brother Jake Hayes (also Rock) to complete the mission.
The movie also stars Peter Stormare, Gabriel Macht, Kerry Washington, Adoni Maropis, John Slattery, and Matthew Marsh.
It was released on June 7, 2002, after being delayed due to the September 11th attacks.
Despite the name, this film has nothing to do with British rock n' rollers Bad Company.note ; also not to be confused with the 1995 film of the same name starring Laurence Fishburne and Ellen Barkin, and also about the CIA.
Tropes for the film:
- Boring, but Practical: When Seale speculates about how the terrorists managed to get a portable thermonuclear bomb onto American soil, Oakes just says, "you'd be surprised what you can send by air freight."
- Coup de Grâce: Agent Oakes shoots an unconscious terrorist dead for no readily discernible reason (there were like 50 CIA agents in the building, so it's unclear why they couldn't have just taken the guy prisoner). He later complains that there's no one left to interrogate after the second terrorist jumps off the roof of the hotel.
- Deadpan Snarker: Any movie with Anthony Hopkins? Really, you have to ask?Jake: They woke me up, man!
Oaks: Yeah, that's the funny thing about an ambush. Next time we'll try to let you know. - Decoy Antagonist: Vas is built up as the main antagonist, until he gets offed by Dragan Adanic.
- Emergency Impersonation: The premise of the movie, in which a dead CIA Agent posing as a nuclear arms dealer has to be impersonated by his Separated at Birth identical twin brother.
- Faked Kidnapping: Oaks's team rousts Jake out of bed in the middle of the night to test his reaction to an unexpected situation. He deals with it so smoothly that they're embarrassed and go back to bed.
- Footsie Under the Table: As part of an assignment of playing his dead twin brother, Jake Hayes meets up with his brother's girlfriend (played by Garcelle Beauvais), who believes he's his brother, and they have dinner together at a hotel, where she attempts to seduce him this way.
- Here We Go Again!: Parodied; at the end of the movie Oakes approaches Hayes to tell him one of his brother's old enemies broke out of prison and is coming for revenge, prompting Hayes to insist he's not going through this again... only for Oakes to reveal he was just trolling him.
- Kidnapped by an Ally: Jake is grabbed out of bed and kidnapped as part of a training exercise. Oakes begins to tell him how, in that situation, his mental faculties shut down in a panic when Jake interrupts, saying he knew what was going on because he identified the agents, one through his breath, one because he could feel her breasts when she grabbed him, and one because he stole his wallet while they were grabbing him.
- My Sibling Will Live Through Me: At least in the short term, Jake has to take on Kevin's current cover identity to complete a key mission.
- Seen It All: Jake is unimpressed by the resumes of the gangsters and terrorists the CIA is dealing with:Gaylord Oaks: (on Vas) He's up to his neck in prostitution, drugs, and extortion.
Jake: Sounds like anybody I went to high school with. - Separated at Birth: As explained, Jake Hayes and Kevin Pope were twins born to a single mother who died giving birth to them. Typically twins would be kept together, but Jake developed a serious lung infection while he was a newborn, so doctors edited the birth certificates to allow the other twin to be adopted separately as they assumed Jake wouldn't survive.
- Shoot Everything That Moves: When the eleventh hour confrontation comes, and it looks like the bomb is minutes from going off, Yates gives orders to his tactical teams that if he gives the signal to storm the bad guys' hideout, they shoot everyone, regardless of whether they're terrorists, hostages, or the CIA's own people: "If it breathes, it dies."
- Smart People Play Chess: Despite his lack of formal education, Jake can map out an entire game in his head, and uses chess moves as a mnemonic device.
- Smarter Than You Look: Hayes, a small-time hustler, is assumed by the CIA to be far less intelligent and skilled than his brother. They learn quickly during their negotiations with Hayes over how much he'll be paid to do this job that he's far more savvy and intelligent than he lets on, and he adapts to the requirements of the spy life very quickly.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: The CIA will never be the same after working with Jake:
- First, when Oaks tries to appeal to Jake's sense of mission to get him to continue with the job:Gaylord Oaks: Well, that didn't work, did it?
Jake: No! [mocking Oaks] "I'm going to go outside and count to ten"? Who the hell are you? You'd would have done better with "Bitch, get in the car".
Gaylord Oaks: Okay. Get in the car... bitch. - Then, when the mission is close to complete and infinitely more dangerous:Roland Yates: Don't worry, son, there'll be extra money for this mission.
Jake: Hey, man, first of all, I'm not your son. Second of all, did it ever occur to you that I might want to do something 'cause it's the right thing? Hey, I'm the one with the dead brother, I'm the one who misses his girl, and I'm supposed to put up with your shit 'cause you're a spy? Big deal! Every woman on the planet's a spy! Man, you guys can't even find Saddam Hussein! You know, if you told a woman, right now at 8:00 in the morning, that her husband was sleeping with Saddam Hussein, she'd be able to find Saddam by 8:00 that night, and say "Saddam, don't you ever come around my house no more!" Hey, I did you a favor, OK? You called me! Now, if you ever talk down to me again, I will beat your ass so bad you'll be the only guy in heaven with a wheelchair. You better act right before you get smacked right, bitch.
- First, when Oaks tries to appeal to Jake's sense of mission to get him to continue with the job:
- Water Wake-up: How Oakes begins the first two days of Jake's training at the CIA. By the third day:Oakes: Good morning, Mr. Hayes. 5:00 a.m.
[He pours a pitcher of water on... an empty bed.]
Jake: No, 5:01!
[Jake appears, fully dressed and awake, and throws his own pitcher of water in Oakes's face.] - Weaker Twin Saves the Day: A CIA Agent dies in the middle of an important undercover operation, and the CIA call on his separated-at-birth twin brother, an immature hustler, to keep the cover identity alive.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Oakes's exact words, after telling Yates that if he had six months he could train Jake to imitate his twin brother perfectly, and being told he has eight days.