Chris Rock is funny, really funny. Anthony Hopkins is such a Brit acting treasure, the queen knighted him. With Rock playing twins — a New York scam artist and a brilliant spy pretending to be an antiques dealer in Prague — and Hopkins as the CIA hotshot with only nine days to train the street kid to replace his murdered brother, they should be good company. But this blood-and-guts Odd Couple never takes off. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer demands the kind of formula action that leaves director Joel Schumacher no space to let characters breathe. The motor of the plot, involving nuclear terrorism, not only knocked Bad Company out of last year's release schedule due to 9/11 sensitivity, it stops Rock and Hopkins from sustaining a comic rapport. The waste is criminal.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”