Bad Boys / Bad Boys II
Bad BoysSlick to a fault, this glossy action flick takes place in sunny Florida, where Martin Lawrence and Will Smith play two cops--one married with kids, the other a swinging bachelor. The two are forced to trade places to foil criminal mastermind Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) who has stolen $100 million worth of heroin from a police lockup. Violent, illogical, and filled with wall-to-wall profanity,Bad Boyswas the last film produced by the hit-making team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer before Simpson's untimely death, and marked the directorial debut of Michael Bay who followed up withThe Rock.Bad Boyswill be of interest to action buffs and fans of Téa Leoni, who makes one of her early screen appearances in the central supporting role.--Jeff ShannonBad Boys IINo one goes to a movie directed by Michael Bay for delicacy and grace; you go because Michael Bay (Armageddon,The Rock) knows how to make your bones rattle during a high-speed chase when a car flips over, spins through the air, and smacks another car with a visceral crunch.Bad Boys IIfulfills this expectation and then some. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence may be mere puppets amid all this burning rubber and shrieking metal, but they actually provide a human core to the endless cascade of car wrecks and gunfights. Their easy rapport makes their personal problems--a running joke is Lawrence's attempts at anger management--as engaging as the sheer visual hullabaloo of bullets and explosions. The plot is recycled nonsense about drug lords and dead bodies being used to smuggle drugs, but orchestration of violence is symphonic. If that's your thing, then this is for you.--Bret Fetzer