Bad Boys

"Shit just got real."

Bad Boys is a 1995 action comedy film, directed by Michael Bay, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. The film also spawned a 2003 sequel, Bad Boys II, which in turn spawned a video game adaptation, Bad Boys: Miami Takedown.

Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith) are best friends and detectives in the narcotics division of the Miami-Dade Police Department. They have just completed the biggest bust of their career, having confiscated about 100 million dollars worth of heroin. Which would have probably earned them an award or two...if the heroin wasn't immediately stolen from supposedly secure police vault. Now the two partners have some investigation to do, while the Internal Affairs Office is threatening to shut down their entire division and Howard, their chief, is getting desperate for a breakthrough. Their main suspect is Fouchet (Tcheky Karyo), a French drug-lord active in their area. Their only lead to him is Julie Mott (Tea Leoni) who recently witnessed her best friend get killed on his orders.

The film was a box office hit, earning $141,407,024 worldwide. With about 66 million earned in the United States market, it was the 26th most successful film of its year. Critically it was considered a failure, mostly for being rather formulaic. It helped reinvigorate the buddy cop genre.

The movies contain examples of:

Store Clerk: [pointing a gun at Mike and Marcus] I blow you! And I blow you!
Marcus: "Blow me?" What the fuck? Naw, naw.

  • Armed Altruism: Syd's rescue in Bad Boys 2.
  • Ax Crazy: Fouchet, the villain in the first movie. His plan seemed to involve killing everything he came into contact with.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: The climax of Bad Boys 2.
  • Beyond the Impossible:
    • Michael Bay found a way to introduce a boat into a car chase, helpfully lampshaded By Capt. Howard:

Capt. Howard: 22 cars and a boat, totaled? How the hell did you sink a boat?

    • Of course, the boat was being towed, and even then, it got managed to be ripped off and slam into a few other cars.
    • The first movie also blew up an entire airport hangar. There was also a car chase between a Camaro and a a van full of flammable ether.
  • Big Little Man: A hacker is helping the heroes and gets into an argument with one of them. When he stands up to start shouting, it's revealed that he's much taller than "the short one" who's arguing with him.
  • Black and Nerdy: The convict who hacks into databases for the duo. Complete with Urkel glasses. By the sequel he's apparently been released and is either a civilian or got hired by the police.
  • Butt Monkey: Marcus, who is not pleased of being the one getting the short end of the stick. Lampshaded right at the beginning of the first movie.

Marcus: Why do I always get the big thick muthafuckas?

Mike: Yo, Dan Marino should definitely buy this car. But not this one, cause I'm gonna fuck this one up. But he should definitely get one like it.

    • Dan Marino in the second movie; the boys steal the Caddy he was test driving and later remark that "he should definitely get this car -- well, not this one, I'm gonna fuck this one up, but one just like it".
    • Creator Cameo: Before they take Marino's car, Marcus attempts to commandeer a crappy hatchback driven by Michael Bay himself.
  • Car Fu: Attempted by the bad guys in the second movie's freeway chase, by means of sending cars off a commandeered car carrier at Mike and Marcus' vehicle.

Mike: These dudes are off the chain!

  • Chase Scene: It's not a Michael Bay movie without one. It's also not a Michael Bay movie if something doesn't get trashed. Like a boat or a whole slum, for instance.
  • Cool Car:
    • In the original, Mike Lowrey's 1993 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6 (less than 1,000 were made) and the AC Cobra 427 driven by Fouchet in the finale car chase.
    • In the sequel, Lowrey's Ferrari 575M Maranello (Michael Bay's own 550 Maranello was used in the freeway chase sequence) and a 2003 Buick Blackhawk concept.
  • Continuity Nod: "Now that's how you 'sposed to drive/shoot! From now on, that's how you drive/shoot!"
  • Cowboy Cop:
    • Lampshaded by their boss, Capt. Howard in a hilarious scene in the sequel:

I can't believe you guys. Do you get up in the morning, call each other up - "Good morning, Marcus." "Good morning, Mike." "How you doin'?" "A'ight." "So, how are we going to fuck up the captain's life today?" "Gee, I don't know, I don't know... Ooh, look! Over there. Let's kill three fat people and leave them on the street?"

    • Captain Howard in the first movie has a similar line:

"Ho! What did I say? Did you hear what I said? I heard what I said 'cause I was standing here when I said it! I told you. I told you to secure a witness. Not to shoot up a neighborhood! Not to do another dead body! Just get the dope back and do it quietly."

    • Also mocked in the first movie when after revealing his plan to catch the bad guy towards the end of the film, Mike exclaims: "My shit always works sometimes!"
  • Cup Holders: Marcus complains about Mike's Porsche not having any, which really gets Mike's goat.
  • Da Chief: Captain Howard.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Julie.

"Gee, Julie, what have you been up to the last couple days? Nothing. Just hanging out, handcuffed to steering wheels."

Mike: We ride together. We die together. Bad Boys for life.

Mike: Let me tell you how bad a day you're having: right now you're jacking a couple of cops.

"Shit just got real."

  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Marcus in the first movie: "You forgot your boarding pass!"
  • Product Placement: The Cadillac in the second movie, coincidentally the same one used in The Matrix Reloaded, which co-stars Will Smith's wife, Jada.
  • Rare Guns: In the original, Fouchet attempts to pull out a four-barrel COP .357 Derringer, which is no longer in production.
  • Reading Your Rights: Marcus rattles these off during a car chase. The villain, of course, is in the other car.

Marcus: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do will be held against you in a court of law.
Mike: What are you doing?
Marcus: (determined) Getting it out of the way!

DEA Agent Snell: We don't know you, but you look like you're about to do something stupid. I'm in.

  • Shot in the Ass: Yeah. Marcus gets shot in the butt, leading to a series of awkward and badly worded moments later on.
  • Storming the Castle: In the sequel, Mike and Marcus (along with DEA, CIA and law enforcement agents) storm Tapia's villa in Cuba to rescue Marcus' sister before the local government catches them.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: It wouldn't be a Michael Bay movie without at least a few gratuitous explosions.
  • Suicide by Cop: Fouchet tries to goad Mike into doing this for him, but he only gets killed after he tries to pull a gun on Marcus.
  • Sword Over Head
  • Take Five:

Marcus: Mike. Go downstairs and have a Coke and a smile.

Mike: "Plan B did not have this big-ass gun in it!"

  • Took a Level In Badass: Both of the main characters in the second film, especially Mike.
  • Twerp Sweating: And how. Probably the best example ever in film history occurs in the sequel when Megan's date arrives. Please enjoy.
  • Uncle Tomfoolery: Sort of. Both heroes are black, and Marcus is the "straight-laced white guy."
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Discussed in-universe for humor. On Captain Howard and Captain Sinclair having yet another argument:

Mike: They should just bone and get that shit over with.

Mike: We ride together, we die together. Bad boys for life.

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