The best part of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, comes near the end of the film when Martin Lawrence slaps Will Smith in the face and yells “bad boy!”
The best part of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” arrives near the end of the film when Martin Lawrence slaps Will Smith in the face and yells “bad boy!”
What a shame that it’s fake.
Perhaps in years to come, audiences will enjoy this action-comedy, the fourth entry of the past-its-prime, three-decade-old series, without thinking about its star smacking comedian Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars in 2022.
But, for the time being anyway, that bizarre incident is still fresh on viewers’ minds, and the “Independence Day” actor remains a very challenging guy to like — even in an easily digestible buddy-cop movie.
His second go at a comeback after last year’s “Emancipation” would suggest a clichéd old phrase about third times.
In the mediocre sequel to 2020’s surprisingly fun “Bad Boys for Life,” Smith is completely dead behind the eyes, with that glazed-over look of corporate burnout. Maybe his peepers are tired from watching his Q score plummet for two years.
Not so of his co-star Lawrence, who is as boisterously silly as ever, playing a bumbling Miami police officer for whom enforcing the law is an annoyance.
