Bad Boys

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: April 7, 1995

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

41	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Sarah Kerr

The car chases are unimpeachable. Read full review

Steve Persall

What Bay has really done is slice Beverly Hills Cop in two; Eddie Murphy's sandpaper personality in Lawrence and his silky style in Smith. [7 April 1995, p.7]

Mike Clark

Fans of the stars should be satisfied. Those allergic to car chases, casual killings and the phrase "Oh, s - - -!" may suffer hives. [7 April 1995, p.3D]

Gary Kamiya

With more sophisticated writing, one suspects they could really soar: Even here, slowed by clunky, character-establishing lines and an all-devouring plot, they hit more often than they miss. Read full review

Peter Travers

But the bad boys achieve something a budget can't buy: an easy, natural rapport that makes you root for them. For comedy and thrills, Lawrence and Smith are a dream team. Read full review

EmpireAngie Errigo

We've seen it all a million times before, but there are abundant (foul-mouthed) funnies, and debut director Michael Bay shows his commercials expertise propelling the noisy nonsense into a frantically slick and thoroughly enjoyable extravaganza. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

Crucially, the teaming of standup favorite and "Martin" star Lawrence and "Fresh Prince" Smith clicks from the outset, with both right at home handling action and comedy on the bigscreen. Even when it's not particularly funny, their interplay is engaging, and their lively, raucous personalities keep the proceedings punchy and watchable for the slightly overlong running time. Read full review

Caryn James

Would have been better if it had been sleeker and shorter. After all, this film isn't aiming for high-toned drama, just high-energy entertainment, which is what it delivers. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

The flabbergasting scenes here-written by a team of "Tonight Show" and "David Letterman Show" writers and directed by hot, young TV-commercial and music-video director Michael Bay-are slick, fast, loud, mostly derived from other movies and often senseless. Read full review

Stephen Hunter

Smith and Lawrence have great comic energy and for at least half an hour are sublimely enjoyable -- until the movie's spirit of bloated gargantuanism takes over. [7 April 1995, p.5]

Rene Rodriguez

Ultimately, Bad Boys is too slick for its own good; all gorgeous photography and little story. It's like a two-hour-plus music video. But it probably will be a hit. Lawrence and Smith are hot, and if the Beverly Hills Cop formula worked with one comedian, it should certainly work with two. [7 April 1995, p.5G]

Roger Ebert

Whom do they make these movies for? What exercise in self-deception inspires them to go to such effort and expense for what is obviously going to be a lame exercise in retreadmanship? Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Aside from the racial twist, this is pretty conventional fare, but it's consistently diverting. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Though audiences will leave theaters with an increased appreciation of this pair's talents, they will also leave pondering the perennial Hollywood question: How come so little of interest could be found for performers who are capable of so much more? Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Benefits from Smith and Lawrence's chemistry. As long as they're on screen together, things breeze along. But when they're apart, the movie flounders. Read full review

James Berardinelli

There's only so far a movie can go on loud music, nicely-framed shots, testosterone, and adrenaline. Bad Boys takes the often-traveled road, and leads the audience to a dead end. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

It's like a series of cliches exploding in your face. Read full review

Dave Kehr

The plot line quickly becomes incomprehensible, and the movie, directed in sleek music-video style by Michael Bay, comes to suggest a very long night on Fox-TV. [7 April 1995, p.56]

Desson Thomson

Even by the low-low standards of cheap action flicks, this one's bad, boys. Read full review

Marc Savlov

From the swooping aerial shots of downtown Miami, to the long, long-legged beauties that seem to crop up every time the action threatens to slow down, to the nonsensical lack of logic that permeates the film like the acrid odor of wasted cordite, Bad Boys oozes Eighties Hollywood clichés like no film since "Top Gun." Read full review

Rita Kempley

Relentless formulaic fodder for the explosion-starved; it's loud, shallow, sexist and a complete waste of time. Read full review

Lawrence Toppman

Director Michael Bay surrounds them with action scenes cut as rapidly and irritatingly as a Gap commercial. At points, we can't tell one darting car from another, a drug triggerman from a cop. [7 April 1995, p.1F]

Joe Holleman

This film fails, and for several reasons - not the least being that movies about bickering police partners who fight crime with snappy wisecracks and serious weaponry just might be the most overused plot of the last 15 years. [12 April 1995, p.3E]

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Formulaic sass machine... I was writhing in my seat. Read full review