Time: 119 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – contains violence
Cast:
Martin Lawrence as Detective Sergeant Marcus Miles Burnett
Will Smith as Detective Sergeant Michael Eugene “Mike” Lowrey
Téa Leoni as Julie Mott
Tchéky Karyo as Fouchet
Theresa Randle as Theresa Burnett
Director: Michael Bay

Bad Boys was Michael Bay’s first movie, which was very much a typical buddy cop action comedy. I do enjoy it quite a bit, even if I wouldn’t really call it among Bay’s best.

This buddy cop action comedy is entertaining and is dumb fun. That said, the biggest thing that is holding the movie back is its script, which really isn’t anything special and is quite flawed. Not all the humour works and can really fail, but its also just kind of predictable, and is your average generic buddy cop comedy writing. The story is very forgettable, and you largely just remember the lead duo more than anything in the plot.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are great as the lead buddy cop duo, they have great chemistry and comedic timing, but also convincing as a pair of friends. For as good as Bay’s style and direction were, I would credit the main success of this first Bad Boys to these two actors. They are really entertaining to watch and it is fun to watch them.

Michael Bay directs this very well for his first movie. Even though it lacks the insanity we know from Bay and it is relatively restrained compared to his later filmography, it has a very distinct style. The camerawork is on point, and the action is quite entertaining. The action throughout much of the movie isn’t as large scale as you’d expect, but Bay saves its biggest moments right at the very end of the movie.

Bad Boys was a really fun, if cliched and predictable buddy cop comedy, helped by the entertaining action and the dynamic between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith.