Bad Man

"There are no good men, only bad men and those they bend."

Crime comedy Bad Man stars Johnny Simmons as a local cop called Sam, who's struggling to find his way in life following the death of his father. When a murder takes place, he hopes the case will be his way of finding his place in the world. His plan, however, gets T-boned when crude undercover agent Bobby Gaines (Seann William Scott) rolls up and takes control of the investigation. 

A directorial debut for Michael Diliberti, who co-writes here with JJ Nelson, Bad Man is taking the classic Western format of a new sheriff in town and injecting the storyline with potent relevance, with swipes at toxic masculinity, “wokeness”, and modern ideas of being a “winner” that get measured in a skewed mess of results, success, and factors at odds with being a good person. The aggressive jokes in the dialogue have a casual cruelty that will appeal to a mature viewer, but will perhaps sideline this from a mainstream audience.

The challenges to toxic masculinity underpinning the characters work well, with Bobby Gaines being presented as a Dirty Harry type character who doesn’t mind roughing up anyone who stands in the way of solving the crime. Seann William Scott is having great fun in that role, but it is Johnny Simmons as Sam who provides the more compelling performance as the modern man struggling to find the right balance between avoiding police brutality and kicking suspects in the nuts whilst not getting bent over by the baddies.

A romantic subplot sees Sam trying to win the attention of local Izzy (Lovi Poe), which gives the film a much-needed heart, whilst Rob Riggle is severely underused as the buffoonish Police Chief.

Small-town America looks great onscreen and enhances the audience’s immersion into a powerful fable about the ethical dilemma of the modern person trying to navigate a world full of false facts and social uncertainty. The thematic depths are layered only for those looking for them, though, and the rock n’ roll soundtrack keeps the over tone pleasing for fans of action comedy thrillers. 

The main takeaway from Bad Man is if you ever hear "Is that a shooting star?”, cover your groin. 

Bad Man will be available on Digital in the UK from 22nd September 2025.