On this latest episode of the podcast in which an overrated and underrated film within the same genre, style or tone are pitted against each other, the hosts of Over/Under Movies buddy up and play detective for Ryan Oliver’s picks. He’s pitted Michael Bay‘s debut “Bad Boys” as the Over against “The Last Boy Scout” for Under. As usual, Playlist writer Oktay Ege Kozak and myself join Ryan for the discussion.
Sadly, Shane Black‘s latest directorial effort, “The Nice Guys” (a favorite around these parts), hasn’t caught the audience it deserves. Back when he was a hotshot screenwriter making a mint for every new effort, 1991’s “The Last Boy Scout,” directed by Tony Scott, arguably marked the start of Black’s first-wave decline (his next two pictures were “Last Action Hero” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight“). Certainly, ‘Boy Scout’ was less enamored by critics than Black’s other pictures and has mostly faded into pop-culture obsolescence. Featuring a grumpy performance from Bruce Willis and an atypical (mostly dramatic) role for Damon Wayans, here a faded former pro-football quarterback who teams up with private detective and struggling husband/father Willis after his girlfriend is murdered, the film is a muddled but enjoyable bit of early ’90s action with some great one-liners and tough-guy dialogue courtesy of Black.
Then there’s Bay’s first movie, “Bad Boys.” Oof, this one is pretty rough. Though all three of us on the podcast have fond nostalgic memories of seeing this movie back in the day, it’s not even a particularly funny movie when looked at now. The chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, buddy cops who fight sleazy Euro drug dealers in Miami, which most of us remember as the movie’s clear highlight, hasn’t aged well either. Bay would also go on to perfect his action style later in his career. For all his faults, he can produce amazing sequences and images, but even that’s missing from “Bad Boys,” making it an obvious overrated pick and one that we don’t mind ripping apart on this episode.
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