Plot
Two hip detectives protect a murder witness while investigating a case of stolen heroin.

Release Year: 1995

Rating: 6.6/10 (78,213 voted)

Critic's Score: 41/100

Director: Michael Bay

Stars: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Lisa Boyle

Storyline
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.

Writers: George Gallo, Michael Barrie

Cast:
Lisa Boyle - Girl Decoy
Will Smith - Mike Lowery
Martin Lawrence - Marcus Burnett
Michael Taliferro - Carjacker
Emmanuel Xuereb - Eddie Dominguez
Tchéky Karyo - Fouchet (as Tcheky Karyo)
Marc Macaulay - Noah Trafficante
Ralph Gonzalez - Kuni
Vic Manni - Ferguson
Frank John Hughes - Casper
Mike Kirton - Andy
Will Knickerbocker - Officer Bill O'Fee
Theresa Randle - Theresa Burnett
Tiffany Samuels - Megan Burnett
Cory Hodges - James Burnett

Taglines: Whatcha gonna do?

Release Date: 7 April 1995

Filming Locations: Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $15,523,358 (USA) (9 April 1995)

Gross: $140,800,000 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 118 min

Trivia:
The experience Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer had on Beverly Hills Cop, where a vehicle intended for Sylvester Stallone became a blockbuster starring Eddie Murphy, was their inspiration to re-start their project with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the lead roles. Columbia was already interested in making an action film with Smith; Simpson and Bruckheimer got the studio to OK the casting of Lawrence.

Goofs:
Continuity: In the hanger scene where the white suited dealer gets shot, the gun is pointed at his face, but he gets shot through the heart.

Quotes:
Captain Howard: Until then, until then, you are Mike Lowrey, you be him, that's what you are, you're him.
Marcus Burnett: But I-...
Captain Howard: You're him, I don't wanna hear it, you're him. And you, you're you, you be you, but not in front of her. You're him, you're you.

Typically stylish cop flick that is better than the average - 76%

Rating: 7/10

I don't know about you but there are two words that I associate with disastrously bad films. Two words that fill my soul with dread and my bowels with fear. And those two words are... "sports drama". Two OTHER words that carry similar feelings are "Martin Lawrence" so to find a film with him in that I like is something of a surprise. "Bad Boys" is as traditional an action-cop film as you can imagine, filled with hot action sequences, fast cars and beautiful women. And Martin Lawrence.

Lawrence is Det. Marcus Burnett, straight-laced family man and partner to Det. Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) who is Burnett's polar opposite. He's a fast-living ladies man with a passion for sports car and when $100 million dollars worth of heroin is stolen from the Miami PD, he and Burnett are put on the case. But in order to trace the drugs, they need to protect murder witness Julie Mott (Téa Leoni) from local hoodlums led by suave gangster Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo).

As you'd expect from a Bruckheimer & Simpson production, this follows a strict mantra of "style over substance" which makes "Bad Boys" feel like an update of another Miami-based cop show "Miami Vice". The suits are sharp, the action is loud and the cars look way beyond the economic means of cops. And despite the characters being way too familiar ("Lethal Weapon", anyone?), Smith and Lawrence bring humour and chemistry to their roles and lift the film beyond your expectations. In truth, this is the sort of film where you switch your brain off and just enjoy it and thanks to Smith and Lawrence, you can do just that. They spark off each other really well, seeing them in good stead for the almost inevitable sequel.

"Bad Boys" is not what you'd call a classic but it is an enjoyable movie that you can enjoy if it's on TV or a rental DVD. Sometimes, you just want to relax in front of something undemanding and while that may sound like criticism, it isn't. The male half of the species will enjoy this much more than their girlfriends (well, she didn't mind it...) but this sort of thing isn't likely to expand your mind that much. Get yourself some popcorn, slouch on the couch and watch the epitome of the blockbuster cop movie.

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Comments:

Bad Boys

March 25th, 1983

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