Review of Bad Boys (1995) by Spangle — 18 Jan 2017

Bad Boys is the perfect example of a good Michael Bay film. Though off-the-charts stupid and featuring a few too many explosions, Bad Boys has a great time and is unafraid to show the audience how much it is having. Pairing together Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as the iconic Miami PD cop duo, Bad Boys' two charismatic leads carry the weight of this two hour film right on their shoulders and never waver. Together, they turn this otherwise disposable action flick into a quintessential buddy comedy that should be retitled, "Male Banter: The Movie". As a male who enjoys banter, Bad Boys was right up my alley.

Advertising Ford and Coke along the way, Bad Boys is so stupid, it features Will Smith running through Miami with his shirt flying open after a Ford. He damn near catches the thing too. Hardly an endorsement of the brand, I would say. The film also tacks on Tea Leoni running around in a miniskirt for just shy of two hours. Not very becoming of the Secretary of State, but I guess we all have our wild and crazy phase. Bay shamelessly sexualizes her in every shot of this film and, while that can be a bit icky at times, it is merely par for the course in Michael Bay films and male-targeted action films. There will be bombs, bullets, and babes. Bottom line. Unfortunate to see a talented actress wasted as eye candy though, as she deserves far better. However, Bay does heavily sexualize Will Smith here as well, so it does sort of counter the scopophilia aimed at Leoni with some eye candy for the lady (singular intended) in the audience as well.

Action-wise, Bad Boys is pretty bombastic. It is always fun and derivative with European bad guys and a convoluted-for-such-a-simplistic-movie plot, but it really does embrace this craziness via its leads. With Marcus Bennett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith) switching identities for convenience sake, Bad Boys is always poorly plotted. There is no reason for them to switch identities. Just tell Julie (Leoni) that you are Mike's partner and wait for him to get home, then problem solved. But, oh no, we have to pretend that this is a complicated situation that demands lying and manipulation at every step. This is why Bay's movies are always so dumb because they have fun, know they are supposed to be fun, but add on layers of plot and convolutedness that really do nothing. Fortunately, Bad Boys is incredibly fun. Lawrence and Smith are well matched as partners and their two-hour long banter session is the reason why I came away really enjoying this diversion. They both have tremendous comedic timing and the writing is incredibly funny in this section. Yet, all of the banter really emphasizes the friendship and bond between the two partners. They love one another and are unafraid to risk their lives to save the life of their best friend. More so than any buddy cop film, Bad Boys establishes two guys who are indebted to one another and both of them know it. For all of its inadequacies, Bad Boys really creates a great portrait of male friendship, which is impressive in a testosterone driven action film.

Action-packed with charismatic turns from its comedically adept leads, Bad Boys is simply a ton of fun. Much of this review sounds like a half-hearted endorsement, but I rarely like stupid action comedies like Bad Boys. The fact that I came away enjoying this has to mean something. At the very least, the pairing together of Smith and Lawrence is eminently watchable and covers up the inadequacies of the script and Bay's direction with a huge band-aid.