Martin Lawrence | Through the Shattered Lens

Bad Boys For Life came out in January of this year. It was the first big release of 2020 and despite some skepticism (mostly from people like me, who pointed out that it had been 18 years since the release of the previous Bad Boys film), it went on to become the most financially successful January release of all time. Not only did audiences love it but critics were surprisingly positive as well.

When I watched the film last week, I occasionally felt as if I had stepped into a time machine. Even though the movie was just released a few months ago, it really does feel like an artifact from another age. I mean, here we have a film named after the theme song of Cops, a once inescapable reality show that has largely been memory-holed as its uncritical depiction of the police has fallen out of fashion. The film even features several scenes of the heroes singing the Bad Boys song, a song that declares that there’s nothing you can do now that the police are coming for you.

Of course, the film itself is about the type of supercops who, up until a few months ago, were popular in films and television. These are the type of cops who are always quick with a quip and who have no problem trampling all over the Constitution in their pursuit of the bad guys. The film celebrates the idea of the “super cop” in a way that seems almost unthinkable in our current cultural moment. Defund the police? How could you possibly want to do that when the cops are as charming as Will Smith and …. uhmm, Martin Lawrence?

Smith and Lawrence return as Miami Detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. Played by Smith, Mike is a confident and cocky playboy whose carefree façade hides a complicated path. As played by Lawrence, Marcus is a mild-mannered family man who thinks that his partner needs to settle down and perhaps show a little bit more caution with some of his life choices. Together …. THEY SOLVE CRIMES!

No, this time I’m not joking. That is literally what they literally do. They’re famous for solving crimes and Mike is known as being the “bulletproof cop.” However, they’re both getting older. Mike’s beard is going gray. Marcus wants to spend more time at home. Even their old boss (Joe Pantoliano) is talking about his retirement. Unfortunately, a man named Armando (Jacob Scipio) is riding around Miami on a motorcycle and murdering anyone who was involved in the arrest and incarceration of an infamous Mexican drug lord. He’s doing so on the orders of his mother, Isabel (Kate del Castillo), who is also known as La Bruja. When Armando targets Mike, everyone is forced to reconsider their plans.

That may sounds simple and straight forward but the film complicates things with a third act twist involving Mike and Armando’s relationship. It’s a twist that really shouldn’t work and yet it does, largely because Will Smith is a strong enough dramatic actor that he makes Mike seem like an actual human being, as opposed to being just an infallible action hero. Smith gets not only the best dramatic moments but also some of the best comedic ones, especially when he ends up working with a bunch of younger cops who aren’t as impressed with Mike as Mike is with himself. Martin Lawrence doesn’t get to do as much as Smith but he has a few funny moments and, most importantly, the friendship between Mike and Marcus feels real. Lawrence and Smith have an undeniable chemistry that works in both comedic and dramatic scenes. When Marcus says that he can’t stand to see Mike putting his life in danger, you believe him. When Mike reacts to Marcus’s desire to retire as being some sort of personal betrayal, you understand exactly what’s going through Mike’s head to make him overreact. You believe that Mike and Marcus really do care about each other and it adds a surprising amount of emotional depth to certain scenes.

Bad Boys For Life is a good action film, one that has a surprisingly big heart. The action scenes are well-handled. The chase scenes are exciting. Will Smith again shows why he’s a movie star. Though the film may seem like a relic of a bygone era, it’s undoubtedly entertaining. (Considering the ADD-nature of popular culture nowadays, it’s easy to imagine that supercops will be back in fashion sooner than later.) Naturally, it ends with the promise of sequel and I imagine that we’ll eventually get one. The only real question is whether or not Marcus and Mike will still be singing their theme song. Let’s hope so.

February is over! Welcome to March!

Now, the first two weeks of March is, traditionally, when most schools give their students a week off for Spring Break. I have a lot of good Spring Break memories and, to be honest, I’ve always kind of resented the fact that Spring Break is something that only schools do. To me, it should be like a national holiday where everything stops for a week and everyone hangs out at the beach for a few days.

Of course, this year’s Spring Break may be a bit of a disappointment, what with everyone freaking out about …. well, everything. That’s a shame but fear not! You may not be able to leave behind your fears long enough to go down to the beach but at least you can still watch movies about the beach, right? So, with that in mind, over the next two weeks, I will be reviewing some films for Spring Break!

It’s time for Spring Breakdown!

Let’s get things started with the 2019 film, The Beach Bum.

The beach bum of the title is an always stoned, alcoholic poet named Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), who spends his time wandering around the Florida Keys. Moondog has been working on a book for several years and he’s a bit of a local celebrity. Everyone that he meets tends to like him, or at least they do until he ruins their lives. Moondog is irresponsible, immature, and apparently some sort of genius as well. Moondog is also extremely laid back. Even when he finds out that his wife, Minnie (Isla Fisher), cheated on him with his best friend, a singer named Lingerie (Snoop Dogg), Moondog is okay with it. He’s always loved Minnie but he’s never had a problem cheating on her so why shouldn’t she do the same to him?

After Moondog shows up late for his daughter’s wedding and goes out of his way to make a scene, he goes for a drive with Minnie. Of course, since Moondog is drunk off his ass, he ends up crashing the car and killing his wife. In her will, Minnie leaves half of her fortune to their daughter, Heather (Stefania LaVie Owen). She leaves the other half to Moondog, with the stipulation that Moondog will only get the money after he finishes his book.

The rest of the film follows, in an episodic fashion, Moondog as he tries to finish his book and get his money. Along the way, he commits crimes, dabbles with various jobs, and spends time in jail and drug rehab. He meets a host of eccentric and destructive characters, almost all of who are the type of outsiders who seem as if they’re destined to eventually be the subject of a “Florida man” headline. For instance, Flicker (Zac Efron) is a pyromaniac. And Captain Wack (Martin Lawrence) hosts dolphin tours but, unfortunately, cannot tell the difference between a dolphin and a shark.

When The Beach Bum was first released in March of last year, it was eagerly anticipated because it was Harmony Korine’s first film since 2012’s Spring Breakers. Despite the fact that Spring Breakers and The Beach Bum both take place in Florida and feature a lot of beach action, the two films might as well be taking place in separate universes. The Beach Bum is as laid back as Spring Breakers was violent. If Spring Breakers was a film that seemed to be fueled by ecstasy and cocaine, The Beach Bum is a celebration of getting high and enjoying life. If Spring Breakers was all about being young, The Beach Bum is about growing old without giving up your individuality.

In many ways, The Beach Bum is the ultimate Matthew McConaughey film and how you react to the film will depend on how much tolerance you have for Matthew McConaughey at his most McConaugheyest. Indeed, if you like Moondog, it’ll probably be because you like Matthew McConaughey. As a character, Moondog is a jerk. He nearly ruins his daughter’s wedding. He drives drunk and kills his wife. He refuses to take responsibility for being a general fuck-up and, from what little we hear of his work, he appears to be a subpar poet as well. And yet, Matthew McConaughey brings enough of his own natural charm to the role that it’s tempting to forgive Moondog. You can understand why some people in the film are willing to tolerate him, even though he’s basically a pain in the ass to have around.

The Beach Bum is not a film for everyone. I appreciated Matthew McConaughey’s performance and I also appreciated the fact that Harmony Korine didn’t try to remake Spring Breakers. At the same time, the film was a bit too loosely constructed to really hold my interest and a little bit of Moondog goes a long way. I saw this film last year and I’ve really had no desire to rewatch it. That said, the cinematography frequently makes Florida looks like the most beautiful place on Earth and, regardless of what you may think about his poetry, at least Moondog just keeps on L-I-V-I-N, livin’.

Add to that, Moondog’s going to enjoy Spring Break, no doubt about it.