Movie Info
Movie Name: Bad Boys
Studio: Simpson/Bruckheimer
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Comedy
Release Date(s): April 7, 1995
MPAA Rating: R
We’re cops…with guns…Isn’t that bad?!?!
Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) are narcotic detectives in Miami and have just learned that criminals have stolen $100 million dollars of heroin from within the police station. As they track the criminals, Mike contacts a high-end call girl contact tamed Maxine Logan (Karen Alexander) to keep an eye out for possible suspects. Max and her friend Julie Mott (Téa Leoni) find themselves in the middle of a fire fight between the robbers, and Max is killed with only Julie knowing the shooters. Julie’s attempts to reach out to Mike accidentally connects her to Marcus (who she believes is Mike), and now Marcus must take up Mike’s swinging single lifestyle while Mike finds himself at Marcus’ family home protecting his family as they both try to stop the dealers from getting out of the country.
Directed by Michael Bay, Bad Boys was a huge success and the relatively low budget film helped make a movie star out rapper and TV star Will Smith (when combined with 1996’s Independence Day). Despite being a break-out hit, the movie was met with mostly average to slightly positive reviews.
Remind me why I’m the co-star and not the lead, lady?
Bad Boys was one of those films that went through a lot of changes while making it to the screen. At one point, it was a comedy with Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey and then Arsenio Hall was considered for the Will Smith role. The movie was also considered an Eddie Murphy movie and at one point it was considered for Sylvester Stallone.
Bad Boys represents a really average action movie to me. The movie is big and explosive, but the point at which Smith and Lawrence have to switch lives to keep Leone as a possible witness just loses me. It becomes too much of a comedy and almost a Freaky Friday type movie where it is two fish out of water characters who find themselves in lives they previously somewhat envied. I would have preferred the story had stuck to the action comedy along the lines of Beverly Hills Cop (which is how the film starts).
Yeah, we’re bad boys…and a girl
The movie is a Will Smith vehicle with Martin Lawrence tagging along. Despite this, it feels like Martin Lawrence’s part is a bit meatier and it feels like he has more screen time. Bay hated the script and had Lawrence and Smith bring their wit and wisdom for clever banter to the roles…which actually are actually some of the weaker moments in my opinion because they just aren’t as smartly written as the banter in Lethal Weapon or Beverly Hills Cop (but better than Beverly Hills Cop III). Also, Téa Leoni is a poor leading female lead who just never connects well with Lawrence or Smith.
Visually, the movie is a Michael Bay movie and despite a rather small budget is full of great locations, big gunfights, and explosions. I think you need more than this to make a good film, but if you are into the visual and lack of story, the movie should please you because there is a lot of eye candy.
Bad Boys, as I have said, isn’t a bad movie but an average movie. While the story is pretty sloppy and dull at points, the movie tries to bolster it with clever dialogue and explosions. Some work and some don’t, but the movie does move at a quick pace. Bad Boys was followed by Bad Boys II in 2003.
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