Bad Boys II
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 18, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
12
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Bay's movie is also a confident mega-production that feels it doesn't need to lean on its visual frills if it has Smith and Lawrence -- it's a natural-born buddy flick. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerEllen A. Kim
Watching a Bruckheimer with natural comics like Smith and Lawrence makes it all go down easily. If you like this type of movie, that is. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
The bigger-than-big, rambunctious spectacle is way too much of a questionably good thing. Read full review
70
Film ThreatG. Allen Johnson
It may be the most winning, smile-inducing Hollywood action flick of the summer. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
However masterful, the first-rate stunt work, effects, action cinematography and cutting (by no less than three editors) lose impact through sheer repetition. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Though the picture has a generic quality, it also has an ingenious amount of anything-goes that's amusing and frequently exciting. You'll laugh out loud, you'll hide your eyes -- but you'll roll them. too. Nevertheless, it's a fun, if blood- and sun-soaked, ride. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Bad Boys II proves that it's possible to pack a movie with so much popcorn that it leaves the audience overdosed. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
The kind of movie that gives sequels a bad name, even though, strangely enough, it's better than the 1995 hit that spawned it. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Beyond turbocharged. It whooshes along at warp speed. And still, despite some awesomely choreographed stunts and the two stars' pedal-to-the-metal appeal, the movie seems endless. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
But damn it if the film doesn't work as what it's supposed to be: a big, brainless blast o' boom at the box office. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
In general, Bad Boys II is Bay unleashed. This is a good thing when it comes to action sequences--fans of excessive spectacle will definitely dig the car chases that involve flying cadavers. It's a bit less of a good thing between said moments of spectacle. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
With a body built for action and a smile made for comedy, Smith eases through his scenes -- cool but never scary, a touch hip-hop and thoroughly audience-friendly. And unlike Lawrence, he can act. Smith's ability to put over a scene, combined with his matinee charm, goes a long way to making the film's violence palatable. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Just too much of a mediocre thing. It didn't have to be that way. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Might be considered three action sequences and four comedy routines in search of a story. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJon Caramanica
Martin Lawrence's Marcus is the Costello to Smith's Abbott. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The best moments come when Mr. Smith and Mr. Lawrence are permitted to pause from their action-hero duties and run their funny, unpredictable mouths. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalCollin Levey
Like our two loose cannons with badges, the movie misses its target at least as often as it hits it.
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Just like "Bad Boys," only louder, longer and the stars get paid more. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The movie’s length forces our suspension of disbelief for at least an hour more than is comfortable and pushes mindlessness to a dangerous longevity. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Resembles a full-length promo for itself. The action, virtually nonstop, is a series of can-you-top-this? set pieces. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
As overblown as it is overlong, Bad Boys II is an enervating case of more is less. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
If you think you're tough enough, go ahead and sit through the endurance test that is Bad Boys 2, a brutal, 2 1/2-hour display of production overkill. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Smith and Lawrence enjoyed some amusing chemistry in the '95 original, but their molecules sure aren't jibing here. It's a full hour into this behemoth before there's anything resembling a belly laugh. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The apotheosis of adolescent junk. Every sequence spews or splats carnage-filled effects. It's over-the-top, but not pleasurably so -- it's calculatedly over-the-top. The only way to get off on it is to revel in its prodigal waste of materiel. Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
Appallingly mean-spirited. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Bad Boys II is the rare case in which escapism involves leaving the theater. Read full review
30
SalonCharles Taylor
Another Jerry Bruckheimer-Michael Bay demonstration of spectacle -- noise, stunts, the aforementioned incoherent editing -- taking precedence over story and character... by far the most brutal American picture released this summer. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is so choppy in its nervous editing that a lot of the time we're simply watching senseless kinetic action. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's basically the longest (a butt-numbing 21/2 hours), the most expensive (a reportedly obscene $150 million), most vulgar and by far the stupidest episode of "Miami Vice" ever. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The vilest film of the season. Read full review
20
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
There's at least one ending too many, Union regularly vanishes for long stretches of the movie, and director Michael Bay's unmitigated pandering to viewers who whoop with glee whenever someone gets it between the eyes is genuinely distasteful. Read full review
12
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The only thing as bad as bad comedy is bad action. Bad Boys II has plenty of both. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Bad Boys II has everything. Everything loud, dumb, violent, sexist, racist, misogynistic and homophobic that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay can think of puking up onscreen. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This putrid action flick crawls along for two and a half hours before expiring in a septic field of bad one-liners, halfhearted catchphrases, obliterated cars, vicious slow-motion bullet penetration, graphic corpse mutilations played for laughs, and shamefully hollow bonding scenes between its two dyspeptic megastars. Read full review
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