Two years after Will Smith slapped the comic Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage, it feels weird that he wants a franchise known as “Unhealthy Boys” to rekindle his star energy. Smith and his co-star, Martin Lawrence, are two producers of “Unhealthy Boys: Experience or Die,” the stylishly chaotic lark by the administrators Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, suggesting outsize roles as star-auteurs and the significance for this installment to be successful. Of their arms, “Unhealthy Boys: Experience or Die” throws every part on the wall, and far of it sticks.
Although the third “Unhealthy Boys” installment was launched in early 2020, a couple of months earlier than the George Floyd homicide spurred Black Lives Matter protests, that movie could possibly be seen in some methods as apologizing for its Michael Bay previous and its “copaganda” roots.
However that is one thing else — a foolish buddy comedy that opens poignantly with the marriage of Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Christine (Melanie Liburd). There, Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) has a coronary heart assault, a near-death expertise that quickly makes him really feel invincible; Lowrey, nonetheless, is rendered susceptible by debilitating panic assaults. It’s clear that these two hypermasculine males, nonetheless dashing by Miami in quick, slick automobiles, are getting old.
Their pal Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) has been framed — after his loss of life — in a cartel’s cash laundering scheme, by corrupt authorities officers and the brooding mercenary James McGrath (Eric Dane). Lowrey and Burnett work to clear Captain Howard’s identify, and within the course of this movie one way or the other turns into a prison-break film, involving Lowrey’s incarcerated son, Armando (Jacob Scipio), and a revenge subplot involving Howard’s daughter Judy (Rhea Seehorn). Alongside the way in which there are nods to fan favorites, a cameo by Tiffany Haddish, and Miami gangsters searching a needed Lowrey and Burnett.
The lurid lighting and grandiose filmmaking mirror the extravagant plotting. A frantic shootout in a membership is viciously edited. In different main set items, the digicam, typically taking a first-person-shooter perspective, zips, darts and spins previous falling our bodies towards Smith and Lawrence, who banter playfully.
Their endearing camaraderie lands higher than the shallow moments meant to floor Lowrey, whose panic assaults barely determine into his character development or his relationship to his son. The function of Christine, his kidnapped spouse, is severely underwritten. This movie’s spectacle is absurd — a climactic raid on an deserted amusement park options an albino alligator — however its shortcomings are barely noticeable.
Smith and Lawrence additionally make this journey a riotous triumph. These stars embody the care and anxieties their characters really feel for one another, wielding their chemistry to easy over abrupt tonal shifts. For instance, an all-out firefight looping in a Barry White needle drop is a significant spotlight. And a run-in with racist good outdated boys, inspiring a Reba McEntire cowl of the movie’s theme track, makes for an additional memorable scene.
This violent franchise has not often felt so assured, so relaxed and knowingly humorous. If “Unhealthy Boys: Experience or Die” signifies that Smith, post-slap, will stay a foul boy for all times, there are worse punishments to endure.
Unhealthy Boys: Experience or Die
Rated R for sturdy violence and sensual, lovemaking music. Working time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters.
