Bad Boys (2009)

"[Bad Boys II] Every camera angle is flashy, every cut explosive, every joke a screamer.  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"[Bad Boys] For comedy and thrills, Lawrence and Smith are a dream team.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"[Bad Boys II] Beyond turbocharged. It whooshes along at warp speed.  Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"[Bad Boys] ...the teaming of [Lawrence and Smith] clicks from the outset, with both right at home handling action and comedy on the bigscreen.  Todd McCarthy, Variety

ReelViews 5 of 10
[Bad Boys II] The only thing as bad as bad comedy is bad action. Bad Boys II has plenty of both. In fact, those two things are all it has, unless you count the small helping of bad drama. When it comes to this movie, the word "bad" initially seems highly appropriate. But Bad Boys II isn't just bad - it's a catastrophic violation of every aspect of cinema that I as a film critic hold dear. It seems to have been constructed with terms like "unwatchable" and "godawful" as its slogans. There are motion picture failures every year - the resumes of Hollywood players are littered with them. But, when something this big - a would-be blockbuster with recognizable names in the cast and crew - collapses in such a spectacular fashion, it's worth taking note. Think of how many starving children could have been fed with the money that was poured into Michael Bay's latest sinkhole...The action sequences are worse than routine - they're boring. They all follow much the same pattern: explosions, gunfire, someone rolling on the ground in slow motion, the camera circling the action two or three times, rapid-fire cuts so fast that you don't know what the hell is happening, more explosions, more fast cuts, more slow motion, and so on - until you want to scream out "MAKE IT STOP!!!"...Bad Boys II represents a new low for director Bay, who, at least to this point, could be counted on to make semi-competent popcorn movies...This film, however, needs more than salt and butter to make it palatable. Bad Boys II represents another reason to avoid multiplexes this summer, and a further argument against the serialization of movies that do not have franchise potential. Exhibits for the prosecution... 2 Fast 2 Furious, Dumb and Dumberer, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Legally Blonde 2, Bad Boys II. Sometimes, it's damn depressing to be a movie critic. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
[Bad Boys] "Bad Boys" tries with all the energy at its command to redeem an exhausted story with sheer technique. This movie is so good-looking it deserves a decent screenplay, instead of one more lope down memory lane. The movie gives us a Miami filled with midnight glitz, shot with the flair of a fashion photographer - backlit monochrome tilt shots and all. It has relentless editing, slick action sequences, and blows up stuff real good...But what is it about? Two cops. Buddies. Partners. Narcs...Whose evidence from a $100 million heroin bust is stolen. Who get in trouble with the chief, who yells at them. And with a chick from Internal Affairs, who takes them off the case. And who pick up a sexy, wise-cracking sidekick along the way. Oh, and one of the cops is a sexy bachelor and the other one is a family man. The plot is like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces supplied by "48 HRS," "Internal Affairs," "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Lethal Weapon." The movie is a production of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who actually made several of the movies they've ripped off, including "Beverly Hills Cop" parts one and two, so maybe they're recycling...The movie stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, both comic actors, both talented, both allowed to talk way too much in the course of this film. The dialogue runs on endlessly; consider, for example, the basic scene where the commanding officer reads out the two cops. He goes on, and on, and on, screaming at them. Later he screams some more...There are also a lot of curious interludes in which Lawrence and Smith do verbal riffs, interrupting each other, stream of consciousness, finishing each other's sentences or not bothering to complete thoughts at all, to show a kind of easy familiarity, I guess. We are glad they know each other so well. We wish we knew them well enough to figure out what they think they're saying. - Roger Ebert