X
- 1995
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 59 m
- 1995
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 59 m
Summary One hundred million dollars worth of confiscated heroin has just been jacked from police custody. Once the career bust of Detective Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), the missing drugs now threaten to shut down the narcotics division of the Miami Police Department. When the drug investigation turns deadly, the...
Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: George Gallo, Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland, Doug Richardson
- 1995
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 59 m
- 1995
- R
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- 1 h 59 m
Bad Boys
41
8.3
Where to Watch
Summary One hundred million dollars worth of confiscated heroin has just been jacked from police custody. Once the career bust of Detective Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), the missing drugs now threaten to shut down the narcotics division of the Miami Police Department. When the drug investigation turns deadly, the...
Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: George Gallo, Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland, Doug Richardson
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
41
21% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
54% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
25% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
41
21% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
54% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
25% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
The car chases are unimpeachable.
With more sophisticated writing, one suspects they could really soar: Even here, slowed by clunky, character-establishing lines and an all-devouring plot, they hit more often than they miss.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 637 User Ratings
8.3
81% Positive
517 Ratings
517 Ratings
12% Mixed
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
7% Negative
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 637 User Ratings
8.3
81% Positive
517 Ratings
517 Ratings
12% Mixed
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
7% Negative
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
Really funny, and action packed. One of my favorite movies of all time. Love this movie.
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Ultimately, Bad Boys is too slick for its own good; all gorgeous photography and little story. It's like a two-hour-plus music video. But it probably will be a hit. Lawrence and Smith are hot, and if the Beverly Hills Cop formula worked with one comedian, it should certainly work with two. [7 April 1995, p.5G]
Benefits from Smith and Lawrence's chemistry. As long as they're on screen together, things breeze along. But when they're apart, the movie flounders.
Whom do they make these movies for? What exercise in self-deception inspires them to go to such effort and expense for what is obviously going to be a lame exercise in retreadmanship?
From the swooping aerial shots of downtown Miami, to the long, long-legged beauties that seem to crop up every time the action threatens to slow down, to the nonsensical lack of logic that permeates the film like the acrid odor of wasted cordite, Bad Boys oozes Eighties Hollywood clichés like no film since "Top Gun."
Formulaic sass machine... I was writhing in my seat.
After the studio refused to fund the final action sequence, Michael Bay paid the studio $25,000 to shoot the scene.
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"Bad Boys" wasn't imagined so much as it was stitched together, like some cinematic Frankenstein's monster, from the body parts of other movies. There is the mismatched cop-buddy angle from "Lethal Weapon," this time with Martin Lawrence as the loyal family man and Will Smith as his partner, the handsome womanizer. As they try to track down the sophisticated thieves who stole $100 million worth of heroin from the police department's evidence room, they acquire a spunky, female sidekick, a la "Speed." There is the Miami setting from "The Specialist," exploding trucks from "True Lies" and enough **** glass to rival either of the "Die Hards." But formulas exist because they work, and "Bad Boys" is a loud, fast, action movie laced with comedy. In this case, the genre shows few signs of wearing itself out.
Mr. Lawrence, a stand-up comic and star of the sitcom "Martin," and Mr. Smith of the television series "The Fresh Prince" and the film "Six Degrees of Separation," approach their roles as comic actors rather than action stars, and their playful attitude helps. Mr. Lawrence is Marcus, hyperactive and easily ruffled. Mr. Smith is Mike, the calm one, who has a trust fund and a lavish bachelor apartment but whose dedication to his work is, of course, unrivaled. Mike and Marcus confiscated all that heroin in the first place, only to have it stolen by an arrogant European villain (Tcheky Karyo), the logical foil to the down-home detectives. They have four days to recover the goods before the F.B.I. steps in.
In no time, a prostitute is killed by the thieves while trying to help Mike get information. This has two results: it leaves her best friend, Julie, as the sole witness; it reinforces the time-honored movie rule that hookers are always more expendable than nice girls. Julie (Tea Leoni) calls Mike for help; he's away from the phone so Marcus pretends to be Mike, setting things up for the old "Prince and the Pauper" gag. For most of the movie, the family man has to live Mike's bachelor life while Mike looks after Marcus's family. The dialogue is not as snappy as it should be. "The bad guys probably know where you live" is saved by Mr. Lawrence's mocking delivery. The actors liven up their lines where they can and let the first-rate action carry the rest.
Eventually, Julie, Mike and Marcus end up in a truck filled with barrels of flammable ether, the villains racing after them. Mike sends the barrels out on the road, shoots them on fire and sends them roaring into the cars. And there are bigger explosions ahead.
"Bad Boys" is the first feature by Michael Bay, a 30-year-old director. His background in music videos is evident in the jumpy camera movement and quick cuts; his background as a maker of beer commercials is evident in the conspicuous beer signs that clutter the background. The film is produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, the team behind "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Top Gun." They know the action turf well and should have known better than to stumble into the trend to make movies longer. "Bad Boys" is just over two hours, and would have been better if it had been sleeker and shorter. After all, this film isn't aiming for high-toned drama, just high-energy entertainment, which is what it delivers.
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(6/10) -- Considering the spotty career that would follow this debut film from Michael Bay, "Bad Boys" isn't so bad in perspective. Yes, the second act is a little tedious and it tends to meander at times, but the chemistry between Lawrence and Smith is quite fun to watch. Bay's trademark set pieces also do a good job of maintaining the interest in this semi-successful buddy cop flick. As a side note -- major props also go to Joe Pantoliano for brilliantly skewering the "pissed off police captain" trope in this one.
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Do you like explosions? Funny back and forth banter? Boy do I have a movie for you
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Bad Boys is a piece of trash. A scum **** off the brains of the inhabitants of earth.
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Production Company
Columbia Pictures,
Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Release Date Apr 7, 1995
Duration 1 h 59 m
Rating R
Tagline Whatcha gonna do?
Awards
MTV Movie + TV Awards
• 2 Nominations
BMI Film & TV Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Grammy Awards
• 1 Nomination
