Cinephile № 866 “Bad Boys”

Recommendation: 2/5 SKIP

Plot: “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.” -IMDB

Review: The “Bad Boys” trilogy and I have never met each other. I do not think there is a particular reason for me skipping these movies. Timing, interest, other films? Whatever the reason, I decided to change this in January of 2021 when my local drive-in movie theater presented a showing of the original “Bad Boys.” Within 30-minutes of this movie, I discovered the exact reason I skipped it.

First, I am not a big fan of Michael Bay movies. In the world of Hollywood, he is an easy target thanks to his love of slow motion, simulated rain, massive explosions, sexual tension, and scripts that are just raunchy enough to make your mother blush. In this 1995 film, all the loves of Mr. Bay are front and center.

Beyond his directorial choices, I really did not find the relationship between Will Smith as Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett compelling or engaging. Instead of cute, charming, or witty, I found it exhausting. In fact, it felt like a more boring version of “Lethal Weapon.”

Much of the dialogue in this film feels like it is straight from a script. Multiple times throughout this movie I thought…