Bad Boys

The honest and efficient Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) is a married cop with three children, having difficulties for the payment of his mortgage and for having sex with his wife. His partner is the also honest, efficient and wealthy Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith), who inherits a large amount from his family and although living like a playboy, has not resigned to his position in the police department. After a daring robbery of heroin from the police department stores, the two detectives try to find some clue about the gang. The chance appears with the hooker Julie Mott (Téa Leoni), the witness of the murder of a 'working girl' friend of her. The detectives are assigned to protect her and chase the killers. Although full of clichés, 'Bad Boys' is an excellent action movie, in the same line of 'Lethal Weapon'. There are lots of funny parts, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are excellent as the two partners with different behaviors and Téa Leoni is gorgeous. I saw this movie a couple of years ago, when Will Smith was an unknown actor, and now I saw it again on DVD, with the intention of watching 'Bad Boys II'. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'Os Bad Boys' ('The Bad Boys')

This high-action crime drama stands out for me because it succeeds at doing what other movies* have tried and, in my opinion, failed to do -- integrate genuinely funny comedy into the mix. The success is attributable partly to the comedic talents of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence -- who have the ability to deliver crude, rude dialog such that it's funny nevertheless -- and partly to a story that combines suspense and humor into a believable whole.

Our two heroes are police detectives Mike Lowry (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence), who are a kind of tough-cop variation on The Odd Couple . Lowry is suave, slick, self-controlled, well-to-do, heroic, and a real ladies man. Burnett, on the other hand, is an ordinary guy who manages to stumble reasonably effectively, if somewhat ineptly, through his work and his married life.

So imagine what happens when Burnett has to convince a key witness, Julie (Téa Leoni) that he's Mike Lowry -- not just for a few hours, but for a few days. Furthermore, this is no pre-planned, well-orchestrated masquerade. A large stash of confiscated heroin has been un-confiscated right from police headquarters, and both the heroin and the perpetrator must be found within four days, or Internal Affairs is going to take some big-time disciplinary action. Lowry and Burnett are called in because they were the ones who captured the heroin in the first place, and because of the one trait they share -- a renegade approach to police work, which may not have their boss's approval, but which does get the job done (and at one point, causes a store owner to think they're out to rob him). The various twists and turns of the investigation lead to Lowry getting knocked out of commission at the same time that Julie witnesses a murder and refuses to deal with anybody but Mike Lowry. But Marcus Burnett is the only one available to deal with her, and since waiting for Lowry to recover isn't an option …

Subsequent events include Lowry's bachelor pad being invaded by Julie and her dogs, while Lowry stays with Burnett's wife, Burnett trying to keep his wife from finding out what's really going on, and Burnett and Lowry trying to find the heroin and keep Julie alive.

For all you action movie fans, plenty of cars, plenty of buildings, and plenty of people get blown up along the way. (Looking over this review, I see that I've belied the high level of violence, which I definitely should warn you against.)

BAD BOYS kept me both amused and on the edge of my seat throughout. I'm afraid I did have two small complaints, however. First, I wish the resolution of the Burnett-pretending-to-be-Lowry story had been timed to coincide with the resolution of the main plot.

As it is, the comic subplot ends, leaving the rest of the movie to proceed in a rather formulaic and pedantic fashion. Second, I wish more time had been spent on Lowry's problem of stepping into Burnett's shoes. The swinging bachelor having to play family man would have been good for a few laughs that we never got.

Aside from that, however, this is an action movie that stands out among the rest.

One final note concerning the DVD "Special Edition" release. BAD BOYS was a movie in which the music was particularly effective, and the DVD actually lets you listen to the music track by itself. I wish DVDs of other movies with great music had this option.

* Three examples that come to mind are 48 HOURS, KINDERGARTEN COP, and another Michael Bay film, ARMAGEDDON. 48 HOURS was grim enough to seriously stifle the humor, even with Eddie Murphy in the lead role. KINDERGARTEN COP made me laugh, but the crime drama felt like an unwelcome intrusion. In ARMAGEDDON, I felt the stakes were high enough that humor didn't seem appropriate.

Terrible terrible terrible (oh cool, an explosion) terrible. If you have seen any of the Lethal Weapon movies, you already know 90% of the jokes and dialogue from Bad Boys. The twist is that Smith's character is some millionaire playboy who takes a job as a drug cop because of the excitement and the satisfaction of ridding the streets of scum. Like all of his other roles, Smith brings absolutely nothing to the part, and plays it just as stupidly as it is written and conceived. Martin Lawrence, on the other hand, has never been good or funny in anything he's every been in, ever, so no surprises from him.

Now they're making a Bad Boys II. Maybe I will take up doing crosswords or something, because movies just keep getting worse.

The 'buddy comedy' genre is fairly well-known, there have been plenty of them, all of them primarily based on the basic idea of having two main characters who are, well, buddies; they act like friends to each other, they get in fights, they help each other out, they compliment each other. It's a fairly easy genre to master, and an easy way to make a good movie. This is one of the best examples, since Smith and Lawrence really do compliment each other so well; Smith's the sleek, cool one who is popular with the ladies, while Lawrence is often nervous, and pretty much a direct opposite of Smith. They have pretty good on-screen chemistry, too; you believe that these are good friends and partners. My only real problem with the film is the way the comedy almost all is generated by stereotypes, and, worse, the age-old complications that arise from certain situations. I think that's a little unoriginal, but, hey, that's the only complaint about it, and the film does have some very entertaining comedy parts. The plot is pretty good, it keeps the film going and supplies every single scene with comedy, action, or both. It takes off immediately, and keeps a good pace throughout the 2 hour duration. The acting is all pretty good. The characters are well-written, well, for stereotypes at least(because, lets face it; they are). The comedy is well-done and often made me laugh out loud, and, believe me, I am not, in any way, shape or form, a Will Smith fan. The action was well-done too, intense and exciting. The film, all in all, was pretty good, very entertaining. For a buddy comedy, it's good. For an action comedy, it's good too. I recommend it to all fans of action comedies, and buddy comedies. 7/10

As a protege of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who died after the movie came out before The Rock was released, Michael Bay made his directorial debut with this modestly budgeted buddy comedy that spawned a sequel and another one coming out next January, all starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. THe title of the movie is based on a popular song used for the classic tv show COPS, and both movies including this one have a killer soundtrack. Will Smith got his big break with this movie before getting into an even bigger movie with ID4 (soon to be dwarfed by others including Alladin). Martin Lawrence, fresh off from his hit tv show Martin on fox, is the buddy of will smith.