It’s been 25 years since Will Smith and Martin Lawrence first brandished quick-witted banter together and an excellent yin-yang dynamic in the original “Bad Boys.” Sure, there are more jokes about Viagra, glasses and knee injuries in the action-packed third installment, though the years have only improved their buddy-comedy mojo. But their shtick eventually runs its course and the film ended up testing my tolerance for persistent high-volume yelling and shallow, unoriginal storytelling.View Gallery: Will Smith: The Hollywood icon's best photos through the years Through a mixture of charisma and testosterone Smith and Lawrence manage a handful of chuckles and a couple of decent action scenes.
BAD BOYS 1995 MOVIE
It brought home almost $150 million (not bad for an R-rated movie 25 years ago) and spawned two sequels (eventually) while catapulting the careers of its two stars and director.
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There is no denying “Bad Boys” resonated with many people. And while the banter gets old, the action offers some needed thrills. It diverts our attention from many of the screenplay’s shortcomings. And when it isn’t rehashing many of the genre’s greatest hits, it’s bombarding the screen with bullets and banter. “Bad Boys” isn’t ashamed of employing overused character tropes from the dogged Internal Affairs officer (Marg Helgenberger) who thinks it’s an inside job to the hot-tempered police captain (Joe Pantoliano) who is constantly barking at Marcus and Mike.
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It’s a preposterous plot device whose only purpose seems to be setting up a ton of mediocre gags. Marcus reluctantly poses as Mike to gain Julie’s trust but for some inexplicable reason continues the charade along with Mike for the majority of the movie. After barely escaping with her life Julie calls the police station saying she’ll only speak to Mike who happens to be out. This leads to the biggest of several logic-defying storylines. When Mike’s informant and former love interest is murdered by a French drug kingpin named Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) the lone witness Julie (Téa Leoni) seeks out Mike for protection. Stealing from numerous movies that came before it, “Bad Boys” sets itself in Miami where two narcotics detectives, the antsy family man Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and the trigger-happy playboy Mike Lowrey (Smith), head the investigation into the theft of over $100 million worth of seized heroin from a local precinct. Here the pair show off a lively chemistry and they clearly have a good time improvising while navigating a script that is at times mind-numbingly bad. “Bad Boys” was the movie that pushed them over, especially Smith who would make the blockbuster hit “Independence Day” the very next year. Successful sitcoms had put both Will Smith (“The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”) and Martin Lawrence (“Martin”) on the edge of superstardom. That makes “Bad Boys” a bearable watch but barely.
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Bay had yet to fully embrace the bombast and relentless fever-pitched style that has become his signature to this very day. But you can tell the soon-to-be action genre stalwart was still cutting his teeth. It’s loud, silly, fast-paced and driven by two high-energy actors. “Bad Boys” is the kind of movie you would expect to be Michael Bay’s feature film directorial debut. The mixture of comedy and big action was a proven formula but for many people it had started to wear a bit thin. Throughout the 80s and early 90s countless movies like “48 Hrs” and “Lethal Weapon” had plowed the all-too-familiar ground multiple times each. By the time “Bad Boys” landed back in 1995 the buddy-cop movie had been done and done again.