Plot: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence star in this hard-hitting exposé of the ongoing incompetence of the Los Angeles police department.Why is this a contender for Best Movie. Ever?
I've made no secrets towards my gushing love for Michael Bay in the past, and while I still think his best films are ahead of him, that should in no way smear his past work. Bad Boys is the movie where people officially took notice of him as a filmmaker that deals with issues and not just pyrotechnics (though he still does the latter like noone else). Bay stretches his vision out here; what is essentially a buddy cop movie becomes an alarming look at the lack of ability, training and comic timing of the average LA police officer. At times, it is uncomely viewing - Bay doesn't hold back in depicting Smith's Matt Lowery and Lawrence's Marcus Burnett as the most incapable and unprofessional men of law in recent times - to the point that it begins to feel overly defamatory and embellished. But you should never forget that this is a movie after all, and hiring comedians fresh from their own sitcoms to be the lead actors, Bay must have known the scathing commentary would come through extra potent. Tea Leoni's independent damsel adds a slight distraction from the heavy stuff, and Tchéky Karyo's is one of the best of Michael Bay's staple villains with a European accent. Rest assured though, this is a Michael Bay film. If all you want is slick gunplay, explosions and pan-shots of sunsets, needless to say it still delivers that too.
Best scene: The back-and-forths of the lead actors that play out like Abbott and Costello routines, had Abbott and Costello written sexist, self-obsessed, homophobic, borderline dyslexic routines.
Bad Boys. A title with a thousand meanings.
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