Bad Boys is a 1995 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his feature directorial debut and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.

The film stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey, two Miami narcotics detectives who are investigating $100 million worth of stolen packs of heroin and must also protect a woman from an international drug dealer after she witnessed a key murder.

Internal Affairs suspects that it was an inside job and threatens to shut down the entire department unless they recover the drugs within 72 hours.

Mike asks one of his informants and ex-girlfriend Maxine "Max" Logan to look for people who are newly rich and therefore suspects.

The party is soon interrupted by Dominguez's French drug kingpin boss Fouchet and his henchmen Casper, Ferguson, and Noah.

Mike and Marcus meet their old informant Jojo and learn about the location of the chemist who is cutting the stolen drugs.

The three return to Mike's apartment, where Marcus's wife Theresa confronts them and confirms Julie's suspicion they have been impersonating each other.

During a fierce shootout, they kill Fouchet's remaining henchmen, including Casper and Ferguson, and rescue Julie.

Principal photography began on June 27, 1994,[4] at the Dade Tire company near downtown Miami, the city chosen to replace the original New York locale.

[5] In the film's early stages of development, Simpson and Bruckheimer initially envisioned Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz in the roles.

[8] Arsenio Hall turned down the role of Lowrey and cites[citation needed] that choice as the worst mistake he has ever made.

Both Lawrence and Smith were starring in their own hit television shows, Martin and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when filming Bad Boys.

The scene in the convenience store, when the clerk puts a gun to Burnett and Lowrey's heads and yells, telling them to "Freeze, mother bitches!

The site's critical consensus reads: "Bad Boys stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have enjoyable chemistry; unfortunately, director Michael Bay too often drowns it out with set pieces and explosions in place of an actual story.

In describing the archetypal cop-buddy genre action scene adhered to by the film, Ebert noted "Whenever a movie like this starts to drag, there's always one infallible solution; have a car-chase and then blow something up real good.

[19] Gene Siskel in his appraisal of the film said that he had lost interest in the film after its introduction due to the very formulaic approach, and repeated Roger Ebert's criticism that the talents of the lead actors were wasted; suggesting that the production company did not spend significant time producing a script which would be suitable for their talents.