Two hip detectives protect a witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence storage room from their police precinct. Marcus Burnett is a hen-pecked family man. Mike Lowry is a foot-loose and fancy free ladies' man. Both are Miami policemen, and both have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other. Bad Boys, unlike Bad Boys II, that spawned from the loins of this film, runs less then two hours, coming in at 118 minutes. The reason I mention this is because I wanted to start my comments by saying something positive about this film.<br/><br/>Bad Boys is without a doubt one of the more insipid, tasteless, humorless comedy/action films ever to be put on celluloid. Bad Boys is so bad it makes a film like Smokey And The Bandit look like Academy Award stuff in comparison. At the beginning of this film, we get a group of criminals, led by the evil head criminal Fouchet(Tcheky Karyo), who are intelligent enough to steal $100 million dollars in heroin from a police vault. Unfortunately for them, they get away with the heroin, but leave their brains back in the vault as they then become the stupidest criminals to pull off a heist since Peter Falk concocted The Brink's Job. They kill stupidly and randomly, starting with a girl friend of Mike Lowery(Will Smith), then one of their own guys, all in front of a witness, Julie Mott (Tea Leoni). So of course instead of going into hiding, getting their job done and selling the heroin, they decide it's a better idea to chase down Mott and shoot at some cops, shoot up the city and make themselves as conspicuous as possible. Compared to the actions of Marcus Burnett(Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowery though, these drug dealers are Einstein.<br/><br/>Burnett and Lowery are partners, who must find the heroin and the crooks, protect Mott, their only witness, and do it within three days time so their department doesn't get closed down and they are out of a job. We know this because their boss Capt. Howard(Joe Pantoliano)keeps calling them in to yell, scream and holler this point several times during the film so that they couldn't possibly forget let alone the audience. As if all this wasn't enough, we get this totally ridiculous side plot, having to do with mistaken identity, that is straight out of an old Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie. Why they put it in this film is beyond me and totally unnecessary. It does give Martin Lawrence a chance to do mug for the camera, act stupid and annoying, sort of like Jerry Lewis in some of his worst movies.<br/><br/>The only interesting worthwhile actor in this film is Tea Leoni, but they give her a case of the stupids along with everyone else so her performance is wasted. Martin (I never met a four letter word that wasn't funny) Lawrence seems to have most of the screen time, and it is excruciating to watch. Will Smith isn't quite as bad, but he just phones this one in and appears disinterested throughout. The so called "banter" between Lowery and Burnett, is never funny just forced. There is no rapport at all between them.<br/><br/>Michael Bay might know how to stage an action sequence, he just doesn't know how to film one. He seems to think that action sequences are the same as a music video, filming them with quick cuts, shaky camera, incomprehensible close-ups at crucial moments, slow motion of Burnett and Lowery firing their Weapons, so that when there is something going on it's unwatchable to the audience. <br/><br/>It is incomprehensible that this film did as well as it did. It's amazing what star power will do I guess. Worst then that, and even more astonishing, is that this mess bred a more inept sequel. At least we had eight peaceful years before Bruckheimer and Bay dropped the second bomb. Be thankful for small favors. Yes, I like Bad Boys. I can appreciate a good "film." But I can also appreciate a low-brow buddy cop action movie. It has the bare minimum of what can be expected of a movie, and that is entertainment value (something that a lot of big budget actions movies these days lack). Yes, its formulaic, yes, its predictable. This movie coasts by on the charms of its two leads, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. And the exciting chase through Miami doesn't hurt, either. Rent this to see a fun, exciting, action movie. No more, no less. Lets face it, you could do a lot worse… Formulaic sass machine… I was writhing in my seat.
Fletcorsy replied
373 weeks ago