(1999)
2
Jason Clark
After a promising first act displaying the casual abandon with which teenagers immerse themselves in modern society, this French entry quickly becomes increasingly frustrating to watch. The events depicted are supposedly based on factual records, but even so, Bad Company fails to shed new light on the hedonistic pleasures of wayward teenagers. The tone of the film is so overheated after a point that the audience's sympathy for the characters begins to dissipate. There are scattered observant moments regarding the lives of the people depicted, but the performances lack depth of emotion, and the direction is never strong enough to justify many of the plot's contrivances -- most notably, the catalyst for Delphine's descent into selflessness, a device that never rings true. Overall, the film lacks authenticity; one might think its French origins would distinguish it from a cruder American product, but in fact, it has more in common with Hollywood cinema, ultimately taking its premise no further than countless other pictures have done before. Mauvaises Frequentations had its U.S. premiere at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
Bad Company on AllMovie
Bad Company (1999)
