Films To Watch Before You Die #55

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…

Bad Boys, 1995.

Directed by Michael Bay.
Starring Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Téa Leoni, Joe Pantoliano and Theresa Randle.

Bad Boys is the directorial debut of Michael Bay and since the majority of his films have the same shots recycled over and over again maybe it’s the only one of his films with any visual originality, but is great fun nonetheless.

The film is an action comedy that sees Miami cops Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowry (Smith) trying to uncover $100 million of heroin stolen from a police vault. The seized drugs need to be recovered within five days or Internal Affairs warn that the narcotics division of the Miami-Dade Police Force will be shut down. When escort Max is hired for a party and takes along her flat mate Julie (Leoni) what is meant to be a good time soon turns bad when French drug lord Fouchet kills the host of the party, ex-cop Eddie, and then Max.

Unsure where to turn Julie tries to contact Max’s friend on the force, Mike Lowry. However, with Lowry unavailable Marcus has to pose as his partner and find the girl before Fouchet gets to her. Needing to put her in a safe place Marcus takes her to Mike’s flat where she hides out with her dogs, who shit on Mike’s expensive rug. Mike and Marcus try to solve the crime and pretend to be each other as well as keep Julie under control in order to recover the drugs and save their own arses.

Bad Boys is full of over the top shootouts, car chases and hilarious quips and banter between the two partners. Bay’s debut was a huge box office success on a modest budget, but received mixed reviews from critics. The film is criticised as recycling old cop film clichés and stealing plenty of characters and plot lines from a range of other cop movies. In all honesty it was never going to win an Oscar and isn’t exactly the most magnificent film ever made, but it is great fun to watch if you want to switch off your brain.

Bad Boys is a film you must see before you die because of the on screen chemistry between Smith and Lawrence is pretty good. Apparently Bay wasn’t entirely happy with the script and the dialogue so allowed his two main actors to improvise. Despite his pitfalls as a director this was a pretty good decision and Smith and Lawrence, who are petty fun in their own rights, managed to bring to life the dialogue and allow for some great on screen fun.