Earlier this week, a bunch of us here at CinemaBlend went to a screening of Bad Boys For Life together. While there, we got to talking about what an incredible number of f-bombs the earlier movies in the franchise have, especially Bad Boys 2. So, we did what any sensible people would do. We got out notebooks and had two people make a tally every single time someone dropped a fuck. Turns out, there are a lot of f-words in Bad Boys For Life, but it’s much more on pace with the original movie and not the sequel.
So, what number did we end up with? 48. Or maybe 47. Definitely probably 47 or 48. You know, it’s complicated, okay. We had one person who got 46 and another person who got 47. Then , as we were leaving, we got surprised by a mid-credits scene (spoilers), which contained another f-bomb. After a rousing debate (or maybe just a 10 second conversation), we made the decision to count this last f-bomb since, to us, credit scenes are a part of the actual movie. So, 48 f-bombs. Or 47 f-bombs. One of those.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why is there so much confusion? Well, sit down and let me tell you a story. First, it’s really hard to enjoy a movie and count f-words at the same time. If Martin Lawrence gets in a great zinger, your first instinct is to laugh, not put down another tally mark. B, there was some confusion about what actually counts as an f-bomb. We got at least one in Spanish that showed as a subtitle on the screen. Third, making tally marks and then counting them in a dark theater is hard and you don’t know the struggle. D, we had another scene where someone shouted like 5 or 6 in a really short amount of time, and we didn’t have the privilege of rewind. Fifth, does music count? I hope not because none of us paid attention to that if there were f-bombs.
Also, full disclosure: even high character human beings as brilliant as CinemaBlend employees zone out every once in awhile. To be honest, I just assumed this was going to happen and then we were going to have to either average the two numbers or I’d need to decide which person was less prone to distraction and trust them. Unfortunately, you can’t average 47 and 48 and get a round number (blame math), and I don’t want to admit which of these people I trust more. Plus, we all know what’s actually going to happen. The movie is going to come out on Blu-ray, someone is going to watch with subtitles, count like 53 because random henchmen swore in a barely audible tone in the background and then they’re gonna return to this article to yell at us in the comment section. So, here’s a preemptive middle finger to that guy, which does NOT count as an f-bomb.
The original Bad Boys has “about 50 f-words”, which is within the bounds of a standard R-rated comedy-action movie. Maybe it’s a little on the heavy side, but “about 50” is at a level in which you wouldn’t actively say to yourself, “there’s a ton of f-bombs in this”. Bad Boys 2, however, has 132 f-words, per KidsInMind, and that is an extreme number. It might not be on pace with what we saw recently in Uncut Gems, but anything over a hundred is pretty noticeable, even for someone like me who can’t go five minutes in the morning without using filthy language.
In other news, Bad Boys For Life is a lot better than I expected. It’s not like good, per say, but I laughed at least 10 to 15 times. I also appreciate that the movie seems to realize it has a really stupid plot and just keeps doubling down. My low expectations were met, and if you have low expectations, you’ll have a good time too, provided you’re okay with foul language. If not, prepare to cover your ears at least 47 fucking times.
