{"id":8221,"date":"2020-01-17T12:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T17:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8221"},"modified":"2020-01-17T12:05:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T17:05:33","slug":"review-bad-boys-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=8221","title":{"rendered":"Review: BAD BOYS FOR LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unnecessary franchise update is a sign of the times<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Another creaky, aging franchise is reborn as a frantic actioner aimed at the \u201cFast & Furious\u201d crowd. The jokes fall flat, and the endearing cop duo at the film\u2019s center retains little of the chemistry they shared in the \u201890s.

The \u201cBad Boys\u201d idea never evoked weighty pathos. The first film, released back in 1995, took advantage of a high-concept combination of Will Smith\u2019s movie star charisma and Martin Lawrence\u2019s everyman comic persona. Now, 25 years later, the timing is off.

In one scene, detective Mike Lowrey (Smith) has a breakdown in front of his partner Marcus Burnett (Lawrence). And Smith is bringing it\u2014red eyes, flowing tears, loose nose, shaky speech. He\u2019s well into the emotions of the scene. When the camera cuts to Lawrence, he gives a blank expression, conveying nothing. After a beat, there\u2019s a sarcastic, comedic retort. It\u2019s meant to make us laugh, but instead, because the two actors are on such different levels, I was jerked right out of the film.

The inconsistent tone is repeated over and over, with diminishing effectiveness. And, while I have a soft spot for Martin Lawrence, faithfully watching every episode of his sitcom \u201cMartin\u201d back in the 1990s, he\u2019s not able to match Smith\u2019s intensity. It\u2019s a thankless job.

Read Jonathan’s full review online and in print in the Times-Herald: https:\/\/newnan.com\/2020\/01\/16\/bad-boys-for-life-unnecessary-franchise-update-is-a-sign-of-the-times\/<\/a>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The jokes fall flat, and the endearing cop duo retains little of the chemistry they shared in the \u201890s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[236,1911,1222,1912,1910,228,1500],"class_list":["post-8221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-action","tag-bad-boys","tag-fast-furious","tag-martin-lawrence","tag-reboot","tag-sequel","tag-will-smith","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8226,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8221\/revisions\/8226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}