Finally, now in January 2020, there’s a new Bad Boys movie. Bad Boys For Life reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as hotshot Miami cops, even if they’re now old enough to be grandfathers. Sure! 90s nostalgia and legacy revivals are huge right now. So let’s watch a third Bad Boys movie.
Watch these movies before Bad Boys For Life.
Bad Boys 2
You should probably watch the first Bad Boys, but you should definitely watch Bad Boys 2. Michael Bay’s epic action insanity basically smashes multiple movies into one for a two and half hour buddy cop comedy epic with so many explosions and shifts in tone that you’ll feel like you’re on the drugs the cops are trying to contain.
Pain and Gain
Speaking of Michael Bay, while he has directed many bad movies, I’ll never say he’s a bad director. That’s because it takes a true artist to direct Pain and Gain, a true story of bodybuilders turned criminals. Bay’s trademark hot, slick, glistening patriotism here becomes a brutal tool of satire for the rotting grifting heart of the American Dream.
Martin Lawrence on SNL
Martin Lawrence proved himself to be a real bad boy when we delivered a Saturday Night Live monologue so vulgar he was banned from the show. The full clip has been washed clean from the internet, but you can track down a transcript easy enough.
The Beach Bum
Harmony Korine’s blissed-out The Beach Bum is a one-man show powered by Matthew McConaughey’s zen poet Moondog. But Martin Lawrence’s cameo as a Vietnam veteran dolphin tour guide Captain Wack is so powerful and pure that we hope he gets his own Renaissance.
Aladdin
We’re pretty sure we hallucinated Will Smith turning into a blue CGI genie in one of last year’s ill-advised Disney live-action remakes. But leave a comment if you also shared this delusion.
Snowfall
Instead of Michael Bay, Bad Boys For Life is directed by Belgium duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. In America the pair might be best known for directing several episodes of Snowfall, the 1980s LA crack epidemic drama co-created by the late John Singleton. After Bad Boys though their next project is Beverly Hills Cop 4.
LA’s Finest
Did you know there’s an extended Bad Boys universe? In Bad Boys 2 Gabrielle Union plays Syd Burnett, a detective and sister of Martin Lawrence’s character. And last year she started starring in a spin-off, LA’s Finest, where she partners up with Jessica Alba’s Detective Lieutenant Nancy McKenna. And it’s the first original show for Spectrum. Sure!
