(Smith is a mere 10 years Núñez’s senior.) Also in the squad is Vanessa Hudgens (given very little to do), the enormous Alexander Ludwig (playing against type as a hacker) and Charles Melton, meant to represent a new breed of Bad Boy. The Boys’ new crew is led by Smith’s maybe-some-day love interest Rita (Paola Núñez, in her first English-language feature), a striking and tough woman who, by Hollywood standards, is an age-appropriate match. Smith (and the movie with him) scowls at such an indignity. In one scene, when our heroes prep to go out into the field, they are forced to use rubber ammunition or “ACLU bullets”. The Miami PD has a new hi-tech division with drones and tanks and Arbi-Fallah’s camera drools over the weaponry more than it does over the scantily clad Florida women hanging out at the nightclubs. This latest chapter, directed by the Belgian duo Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah, comes 17 years after the last from explosion auteur Michael Bay (who makes a cameo appearance here). “All our lives we’ve been Bad Boys,” he says in one of the film’s more humiliating moments. He needs glasses for distance, is infrequently intimate with his wife and hears the Barcalounger calling to him. If he was endearing as a young man, he is doubly so at the age of 54, with his Bad Boys character Marcus Burnett a new grandfather eager to retire from the Miami police force. He uses an exclamatory “Oh shit!” the way Rembrandt used oils. Each time it is funny for a different reason. Lawrence, who can tell an entire story on his face in one reaction shot, must shout “Oh shit!” a hundred times in Bad Boys for Life. So, while Bad Boys for Life has a completely asinine story, generic action, predictable plot beats, moronic dialogue and truly reprehensible politics, I still had a good time. With absolute seriousness, I will be forever grateful. When I went to see his dopey 2001 comedy Black Knight, it was the first time I truly laughed with abandon post-9/11. Martin Lawrence may not have starred in a motion picture for close to a decade, but he has a special place in my life.
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