Bad Boys (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers (WGA):

George Gallo (story)
Michael Barrie (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 April 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Whatcha gonna do?

Plot:

Two hip detectives protect a murder witness while investigating a case of stolen heroin.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Heroin | Murder | Witness | Police

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Lisa Boyle	...	Girl Decoy
Michael Taliferro	...	Carjacker
Emmanuel Xuereb	...	Eddie Dominguez
Tchéky Karyo	...	Fouchet (as Tcheky Karyo)
Marc Macaulay	...	Noah Trafficante
Ralph Gonzalez	...	Kuni
Vic Manni	...	Ferguson
Frank John Hughes	...	Casper
Mike Kirton	...	Andy
Martin Lawrence	...	Marcus Burnett
Will Smith	...	Mike Lowrey
Will Knickerbocker	...	Officer Bill O'Fee
Theresa Randle	...	Theresa Burnett
Tiffany Samuels	...	Megan Burnett
Cory Hodges	...	James Burnett

Also Known As:

Bulletproof Hearts (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated R for intense violent action and pervasive strong language.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | SDDS

Certification:

Taiwan:R-18 | Brazil:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Japan:R | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Hungary:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #33591) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Anastasia Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Company:

Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Trivia:

According to Michael Bay on the DVD commentary, he had a fight with Will Smith over the ending. Three days before they shot the ending, Will agreed that he would say "I love you" to Martin Lawrence. The day they were about to shoot the ending, Will changed his mind and didn't want to say it. Michael Bay fought with Will for over a couple of hours about why he should say it. By the end of the fight, in complete frustration, Michael told Will that he didn't care anymore because he only had about 15 minutes to shoot the ending by this time or he didn't have an ending (he wasn't given additional days at the time of filming). When the scene was shot, Will finally says "I love you" to Martin. That shot appears in the final cut.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the chase scene where the criminals kidnap Julie form Collins Park, they steal a taxi cab. Right after Marcus jumps on top of the cab, you can clearly see a sparkler behind the front fender. This is probably a special effect to simulate sparks from the car bottoming out.

Quotes:

Mike Lowrey: You know you drive almost slow enough to drive Miss Daisy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: I, Stank Horse (#6.20)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

I've Got a Little Something for You

The Smith/Lawrence Show

I'm not a huge fan of Michael Bay, who never has a cut longer than five seconds and seems to be in love with three different shots that he rehashes for all of his movies (The .25 second long tight close-up showing a character expressing shock, someone running in slow motion and the shot from ground level looking up at a character or a number of characters as the sky rolls slowly above him/her/them.)

What "Bad Boys" has going for it, and why it succeeds where "The Rock" and "Armageddon" failed miserably, are Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, who flat-out carry this movie. It's pretty obvious that a number of scenes (Pretty much every scene that's good for a laugh) was ad-libbed, and it's equally obvious that Smith and Lawrence had a great time filming this.

Aside from that, the movie is a strictly by-the-number buddy cop-flick with absolutely no surprises that suffers even more because of Michael Bay's seizure-inducing camera techniques. Check it out strictly for Will and Martin.