Theactioncomedygenre has given audiences so much to cheer about for decades. Seeing big set pieces with explosions or crazy stunts in a zany or wacky way playing right into the plot is what the genre is known for. Action comedies have been a staple of Hollywood dating back over 100 years.
Action comedies reallyhit their stride in the 1970swith movies likeSmokey and the BanditandThe In-Lawsproviding some elaborate chases or shootouts mixed with hilarious jokes. Since then, each decade has upped the ante in terms of action. The1990s were a quintessential timefor action comedies. Some of the biggest movie stars chose to do action comedies or made their names in action comedies before becoming bigger movie stars.
These types of movies are usuallybig hits at the box officeand are made for summertime releases. People want to go to the theater, sit and eat popcorn, and watch exciting sequences while laughing out loud. It’s a genre that makes people excited to go to the movies. Here are the 10 best action comedies from the 1990s that are worth revisiting.
10’Mystery Men' (1999)
Mystery Men
What if a bunch of lower-level superheroes had to step up after a city’s big superhero and protector gets kidnapped? That’s the premise ofMystery Men,the 1999 offering from Kinka Usher. It stars a notable cast of Ben Stiller (Mr. Furious), Hank Azaria (The Blue Raja), Claire Forlani (Monica), Eddie Izzard (Tony P.), Geoffrey Rush (Casanova Frankenstein), Kel Mitchell (Invisible Boy), William H. Macy (The Shoveler), Paul Reubens (Spleen), Janeane Garofalo (Bowler), Wes Studi (The Sphinx), Tom Waits (Dr. Heller), and Greg Kinnear (Captain Amazing).
The mix of absurd talents that the superheroes have, from extreme flatulence to being able to throw cutlery well, makes the silliness extend throughout the movie. The film was a box office bomb, not even meeting half of its $68M production budget at the box office. But, it has gained a cult following in later years, andtalk of a sequelhas come.
9’The Last Boy Scout' (1991)
The Last Boy Scout
The 1990s copied the playbook of the success started byLethal Weaponwith action comedies starring one white lead actor and one Black lead and repeated it over and over.The Last Boy Scoutcame out four years after the firstLethal Weaponfilm and was written by the same writer, Shane Black. When it was sold, it was the most expensive screenplay ever purchased. It stars Bruce Willis as a washed-up private investigator who gets entangled in a murder and kidnapping plot with much larger implications. Damon Wayans stars as a former quarterback who teams up with Willis.
The movie has some great shootouts and some high-end action sequences. And of course, there is a scene in a football stadium where Wayans uses a football as a weapon. The movie was a big hit for Warner Bros. and made $114.5M at the box office. Critics were lukewarm on it, with some saying it putthe buddy cop genreon a downward trajectory, but audiences disagreed.
8’Nothing to Lose' (1997)
Nothing to Lose
Two years afterBad Boys, Martin Lawrence once again jumped into the action comedy genre withNothing to Lose. He plays T-Paul, a carjacker who just happens to try and carjack the wrong person. Nick Beam, played by Tim Robbins, has just found his wife having an affair and has not much else going for him. So when T-Paul tries to carjack him, Beam kidnaps T-Paul, setting off a wild chain of events.
The movie is silly and offers a lot ofsituational comedy by Robbinsand Lawrence. John C. McGinley, Giancarlo Esposito, and Michael McKean provide good supporting performances. While critics criticized the movie negatively, it did earn nearly double its production budget at the box office, grossing $44.5M.
Every Martin Lawrence Film of the ‘90s, Ranked
Martin Lawrence rose to stardom as the undisputed king of comedy in the 1990s with rom-coms, high-octane action, and stand-up films.
7’Lethal Weapon 3' (1993)
Warner Bros.
Riggs and Murtaugh returned for the third time as Mel Gibson and Danny Glover reprised their roles forLethal Weapon 3. They are joined by Joe Pesci’s Leo Getz and Rene Russo’s Lorna Cole, who both became important characters in the franchise. This film centers around the cop duo chasing after a former officer turned arms dealer. Russo plays an internal affairs sergeant. The movie takes place a week before Murtaugh’s retirement.
Pesciadds a nice bit of humorto the film as his unassuming real estate agent gets caught up in the action alongside the two stars. The movie grounds Riggs a bit by giving him a love interest. It’s never a bad time at the movies with this crew and the third entry in the franchise was no different.
6’Money Talks' (1997)
Money Talks
Brett Ratner teamed up with Chris Tucker in his directorial debut,Money Talks, and created one of the more memorable director/actor partnerships over the next 20 years. This movie stars Tucker as Franklin, a small-time criminal who gets arrested after being interviewed by a local news reporter, James Russell, played by Charlie Sheen.
During transport to prison, Franklin is handcuffed to another prisoner and that prisoner has his henchmen attack the transport, kill everyone else, and help him escape via helicopter. Franklin has to go with him and he is able to escape and jump out of the helicopter. He visits James, who is the only person he can think of to help him. James, having just been fired from his job, decides to help Franklin hide out so he can interview him during Sweeps week and get his job back.
The movie features a plot to recover stolen diamonds and Franklin taking on the alias of Vic Damone’s son. Heather Locklear and Paul Gleeson co-star while Paul Sorvino plays James’s soon-to-be father-in-law in a memorable role. This movie letsTucker’s comedic brillianceshine and has some quality action sequences, including a great final scene in the L.A. Coliseum.
5’True Lies' (1994)
James Cameron had alreadymade a name for himselfin the action genre with huge successes likeThe Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, andTerminator 2: Judgment Day. Before he took a trip on the Titanic, he madeTrue Liesin 1994. Reteaming with Arnold Schwarzenegger for it, it tells the story of Harry Tasker, a U.S. secret agent who struggles to balance work and his personal life. Jamie Lee Curtis has one of her best roles of the 1990s as his unassuming wife, Helen. The plot deals with a counterrorist with warheads stashed in different places and Helen getting caught up with Harry’s work.
It’s a true action comedy because of Schwarzenegger’s action star power and Curtis' commitment to the comedic side of the role. The movie leans in hard on the action sequences with a memorable chase scene in the snow and a final big action scene involving a unique explosion. The movie made $378M at the box office and co-starred Tom Arnold, Tia Carrere, and Bill Paxton.
Great Movies That Never Got a Sequel
Not all films receive the sequel treatment they deserve, leaving audiences longing and wondering about what could have been.
4’Men in Black' (1997)
Men In Black
Men in Blackhit at the right time for both Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Smith had just come offBad BoysandIndependence Dayand had launched his solo music career, and Jones was a few years removed from winning an Oscar and playing Two-Face inBatman Returns. This movie featured Jones recruiting Smith to be an agent in a secret government division known as the Men in Black (MiB). The MiB is in charge of dealing with alien threats on Earth, where it is revealed that aliens live among humans.
Thanks in part to Smith’s theme songbecoming a global hit, the movie was a box office smash. It earned nearly $590M at the box office, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing movie of the decade. The movie had terrific special effects, won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and featured some of the coolest weapons ever seen in a sci-fi movie. Smith’s physical comedy throughout the movie meshed well with Jones’s more stoic performance.
3’Out of Sight' (1998)
Out of Sight
Adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel,Out of Sightwas George Clooney’s and Steven Soderbergh’s first collaboration. Clooney plays Jack Foley, a career bank robber who gets entangled in a cat-and-mouse game with U.S. Marshall Karen Sisco, played by Jennifer Lopez. Clooney’s immense charisma carries the film’s charm as he breaks out of prison, robs banks, evades capture, and plans high-stakes break-ins, all whiledeveloping a flirtatious relationshipwith the woman chasing him.
Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle, Steve Zahn, Catherine Keener, Dennis Farina, Luis Guzman, Isaiah Washington, and Viola Davis all co-star in the film. Soderbergh shot the movie sleekly, making the action sequences and the physical comedy seem pronounced and silly at the same time. It was widely enjoyed by critics and audiences and was nominated for multiple Oscars while making $77M at the box office.
Changing the action comedy genre a bit by casting two comedians and making them do action rather than having an action star turning and doing some comedic bits,Bad Boyswas a huge box office hit in 1995. It stars Lawrence and Smith as Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery, two Miami PD narcotics officers looking into a case of stolen heroin. They get caught up in a plot with a French drug kingpin and only have 72 hours to recover stolen drugs before Internal Affairs shuts down their department.
Bad Boysfeatures hilarious encounters between Mike and Marcus, including multiple times where they have to pretend to be each other. Both Smith and Lawrencewill be remembered for their charactersforever, and they continued to make three successful sequels. This was one of the big hits of the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer production team era and was a huge boost to director Michael Bay’s career. The movie made $141M off a mere $23M production budget.
Why Did Critics Hate the First Two Bad Boys Movies?
With Bad Boys I and II streaming on Netflix, let’s examine why critics despised these entries so much, even though moviegoers loved them.
1’Rush Hour' (1998)
Rush Hourwas arguably the best action comedy of the 1990s because it meshed action and comedy so well. Featuring a rising movie star in Chris Tucker and arguably the best action star ever in Jackie Chan, the movie was a massive draw to audiences. Tucker’s Detective Carter is teamed up with Chan’s Chief Inspector Lee as they attempt to find the kidnapped daughter of the Chinese consul, a personal friend of Lee’s, in Los Angeles. The back-and-forth between cultural misunderstandings and trying to one-up the other makes Chan and Tucker’s duo likable.
Chan’s stunts are something to be marveled at throughout the film, as his agility and physicality shine. Featuring Tom Wilkinson, Elizabeth Pena, Chris Penn, and Philip Baker Hall in supporting roles, the movie was directed by Ratner, who would go on to direct the pair in the following two sequels as well.Rush Hourwas a phenomenon, grossing $244M. It also inspired a TV series many years later. While the follow-ups tried to recreate the magic, none quite lived up to the original. Fans can get excited as theremight be a fourth movieon the way.
