I Can't Believe How Low Bad Boys 2's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is - What The Hell Happened?

Summary Bad Boys II was poorly received by critics, earning just a 23% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of Will Smith's lowest-rated films.

Despite the critical reception, the Bad Boys franchise has always been more about pleasing audiences, with high audience scores for all films.

The success of Bad Boys for Life, with a fresh score of 76%, helped to reignite interest in the franchise despite the disappointing sequel.

The Rotten Tomatoes score of Bad Boys II is quite surprising considering the success and popularity of the Will Smith-led franchise. The first Bad Boys film was released in 1995, becoming an instant buddy cop classic directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers). Starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (Martin, Death at a Funeral, The Beach Bum), the highly anticipated sequel to Bad Boys was Bad Boys II, released in 2003. Despite the 8-year difference between the first and second films, which certainly generated some hype for the sequel, Bad Boys II was ultimately torn apart by critics.

With Bad Boys: Ride or Die being one of the most exciting upcoming Will Smith movies, the celebrated franchise will pick up where 2020's Bad Boys for Life ended. Both the original Bad Boys and Bad Boys for Life, which is the third installment of the 4-part movie franchise, received mixed and slightly positive reviews from critics, which makes the poor critical reception of Bad Boys II somewhat alarming. This could also be a major reason why there were 17 years between the second and third installments of the Bad Boys franchise. Regardless, Lawrence and Smith will once again appear as their iconic characters, Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey, in Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

Related Bad Boys 4 Confirms The Third Movie Made A Major Title Mistake The upcoming Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the fourth entry in the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence franchise, but its title confirms a Bad Boys 3 mistake.

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Bad Boys II Is One Of Will Smith's Lowest-Rated Movies On Rotten Tomatoes

Bad Boys II received just a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes

Even Smith's most notorious films, such as the 2017 Netflix movie Bright and 2016's infamous Suicide Squad are rated higher than Bad Boys II.

Shockingly, Bad Boys II is one of the worst-rated movies in Will Smith's illustrious career. The only movies worse than Bad Boys II are the 2013 M. Night Shyamalan misfire After Earth, 2016's underwhelming romantic drama Collateral Beauty, and 1999's offbeat action comedy Wild Wild West. Even Smith's most notorious films, such as the 2017 Netflix movie Bright and 2016's infamous Suicide Squad are rated higher than Bad Boys II, which certainly raises some eyebrows. Bad Boys II received just a score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes, while After Earth got a score of 12%, Collateral Beauty got 13%, and Wild Wild West got 16%.

Although Bad Boys II is the fourth worst-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, there are plenty of movies that are not far behind. Suicide Squad (26%), Bright (26%), Gemini Man (27%), and Seven Pounds (27%) are all more or less in the same unfortunate ballpark, although none of them have inspired sequels like Bad Boys II had. During the remainder of the 2000s and 2010s, the Bad Boys franchise appeared to be over until Bad Boys for Life reaffirmed its popularity and made up for the downfall of the sequel by earning a fresh score of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of the entire franchise.

Related 6 Most Exciting Things To Expect From Bad Boys 4 As the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise draws closer, there are many characters, plot points, and revelations that fans should expect.

Why Bad Boys II Only Has 23% On Rotten Tomatoes

Critics were harsh on the Michael Bay sequel

A large majority of top critics from the most reputable sources gave Bad Boys II poor reviews​​​​​​.

Bad Boys was just the fourth movie that Will Smith had ever starred in before Independence Day and Men in Black skyrocketed his fame to new heights. Bad Boys II, however, was not as universally loved as Smith's other classic movies, a fate that was also similarly suffered by Men in Black II, which earned a score of just 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. From more than 180 reviews written by critics, for Bad Boys II, a large majority of top critics from the most reputable sources gave Bad Boys II poor reviews. Many critics were quick to point out the poor directorial choices of Michael Bay in the Bad Boys sequel.

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert has the most iconic take on Bad Boys II, writing in his review, "Everybody involved in this project needs to do some community service." Ebert goes on to critique the overall needlessness of the entire project in his 1-star review. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post wrote in his review of Bad Boys II, "Might be considered three action sequences and four comedy routines in search of a story." Collin Levey of the Wall Street Journal wrote, "Like our two loose cannons with badges, the movie misses its target at least as often as it hits it. Along the way, as well, it will likely batter a few brain cells into a premature grave."

Related Why Gabrielle Union Isn't In Bad Boys 4: What Happened To Syd Bad Boys 4's trailer brings back a few familiar faces, but Gabrielle Union's Syd from Bad Boys II is noticeably still absent from the series' movies.

Bad Boys II's Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Is A Lot Higher Than Its Critics Score

The Bad Boys franchise has always been focused on crowd-pleasing

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Even before the release of Bad Boys for Life, the Bad Boys franchise was never widely applauded by critics.

Even before the release of Bad Boys for Life, the Bad Boys franchise was never widely applauded by critics. Instead, its audience scores were always much more impressive than its critical reception. The Bad Boys franchise has always been one that focused more on crowd-pleasing than critic pandering as evidenced by the high Rotten Tomatoes audience scores of Bad Boys (78%), Bad Boys II (78%), and Bad Boys for Life (96%). Despite the poor reviews for Bad Boys II, the Bad Boys franchise is still a box-office success, earning a total of nearly $839 million across 3 movies. Bad Boys 4 is poised to get it past the $1 billion mark.

Related Bad Boys 4 Is Breaking The Franchise's 29-Year Casting Tradition With 1 Character's Return Bad Boys: Ride or Die breaking a nearly three-decade casting tradition with one character's return may have been beyond the franchise's control.