Looking at the overwhelming success of both the movie itself and the key players involved in its creation, not to mention an enduring legacy as a classic of the genre, it’s easy to forget that Bad Boys holds a shockingly low Rotten Tomatoes score of just 42 percent.
Ignoring the fact it earned $141 million at the box office on a $19 million budget, breathed new life into the stagnating buddy cop caper, and spawned a beloved franchise that continues through to this day, the lasting legacy of the high-octane thrill ride is the impact director Michael Bay and star Will Smith would go on to have on the entire blockbuster arena.
At the time Bad Boys was released, Bay was a music video and commercial wunderkind making the step up to feature filmmaking, while Smith was still a small screen sitcom actor. Fast forward just a few years, and the former had established a unique aesthetic that inspired a slew of imitators, with The Rock and Armageddon both firming up the template that became known as Bayhem.
As for Smith, he immediately followed it up with Independence Day, Men in Black, and Enemy of the State, cementing himself as the biggest A-list draw in Hollywood, and that’s before he became the first (and so far only) actor to headline eight consecutive $100 million domestic hits, none of which would have been possible were it not for Bad Boys.
More than a quarter of a century later, and streaming subscribers still can’t get enough of Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, with Smith and Martin Lawrence’s maiden voyage into running and gunning ranking as one of the top-viewed titles on iTunes this week per FlixPatrol, once again underlining the film’s all-timer credentials.