Bad Boys (1995)

 

Hey hey, Michael Bay, I'm pretty sure this one's okay. 

No really: what Michael Bay does best, is stuff like this. Because it tends to be forgotten that the man is great at creating cool shots and swift albeit frantic action setpieces. But if you're looking for a clever story or dramatic acting, you're definitely barking up the wrong tree. 

That being said, how does 'Bad Boys' hold up? 

Rather well, actually.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are two Miami police officers, to be more specific, in the narcotics branche. One day, a cache of drugs gets stolen from the police lockup and now these two have about 72 hours to retrieve it, before their section gets shut down. The plot thickens when a friend of Smith gets shot and now it has become personal. Doubly so because she had a friend (Tea Léoni) who saw the murder. But by some quirk, Lawrence now has to pretend to be Smith. This wouldn't be too awkward, were it not for the fact that Lawrence is a family man and Smith is a ladies' man. 

Therefore: shenanigans. Always shenanigans. 

And a dosage of lowbrow jokes. Because we still need the occasional reminder that this is Michael Bay we're talking about, right? 

In all fairness, there are quite a lot of things that 'Bad Boys' has going for it. Bay's direction and camerawork is still gorgeous and it does show that the man honed his craft in commercials. Everything looks slick and smooth and it is edited neatly, not too choppy (yet). The chemistry between Smith and Lawrence is probably the biggest draw here, as they play really well off each other and it's highly likely they improvised quite a lot of their dialogue. It just feels like two brothers bickering at times, which is neat and makes you believe these two have been lifelong friends. 

The problems start when there is no action and when our protagonists are not together. The dialogue and so-called downtime (where it tries to calm things down) do not work. The part where Lawrence has to pretend to be Smith and he just does interaction with Léoni, is boring and really drags the film down. Character development doesn't work for Bay, it never has and it most likely never will. When the action picks up again, it's off to a rousing finale, but there is a bit of a slog halfway through the film. 

Also: the bad guy is very weak. Tcheky Karyo is a great actor, but he's hardly on screen and he doesn't get a whole lot to do. Which only strengthens the idea that this is first and foremost a vehicle for Smith and Lawrence, but hey: that could have been worse. 

'Bad Boys' is a silly action film, but it is fun if you can get past some lame jokes and a rather weak middle part. Just switch your brain to 'Off' and go with it!