Michael Bay's Bad Boys franchise follows Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the roles of two comedic Miami cops, Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett. As one of the best buddy cop franchises in cinema, the original film has maintained popularity and relevance, thanks to its comedy, gritty tone and entertaining characters. However, the film is far from the only of its kind, as cinema has produced an endless stream of similarly enjoyable buddy cop movies.

Buddy cop action movies once dominated Hollywood during the 1980s and '90s and, despite declining since then, have still maintained a strong fan base. However, there are certainly movies that, although not strictly buddy cop, would still appeal to fans of Bad Boys. Following everyone from private detectives to disgraced cops on the run, plenty of movies are sure to speak to fans of Michael Bay's classic.

10 Samuel L. Jackson Headlined a Great Shaft Reboot

Shaft began as a detective franchise centered around the exploits and cases of John Shaft, a private eye from Harlem who took on a slew of shady and sleazy cases. After a number of films and a series starring Richard Roundtree, Samuel L. Jackson headlined a 2000 reboot, one that cast him in the role of John Shaft II. The film follows the detective on the NYPD as the investigates Walter Wade Jr, the abusive, criminal son of a local real estate developer. After Wade murders a black man after a racist altercation, he becomes the number one target of Shaft, whose case against him lasts two years, who tries to locate a witness before the killer can silence her.

Shaft follows its hard-boiled detective as he sets out to prove Wade's guilt, as the murderer hires a local drug lord to kill the witness and take out Shaft. The film strikes the perfect balance between its Blaxploitation roots and a more modern, '90s-style action plot that has several points of similarity to Bad Boys, such as its witness protection plot and final shootout.

9 Die Hard With A Vengeance Is As Good As The First

Die Hard stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, a hard-boiled NYPD cop. Because of the film's overwhelming success, the actor reprised the role in several sequels, including the franchise's third film, Die Hard With A Vengeance. The movie begins when a terrorist, Simon, detonates a bomb in New York and threatens to set off more explosions unless McClane follows his instructions. The villain sends the cop into Harlem, wearing a racist sign that prompts a local business owner, Zeus, to step in and try and save him. After narrowly escaping a fight, the pair are forced into a partnership to play Simon's game, running around the city in search of his bombs.

Die Hard With A Vengeance captures the same combination of gritty '90s action and buddy team-up as Bad Boys, even if John and Zeus aren't as close as Mike and Marcus. When the duo realizes they're being played for fools and Simon is orchestrating a heist at the Federal Reserve, they spring into action in classic buddy style. While the heroes aren't as friendly as the Bad Boys heroes, their exchanges and differences make for a fun dynamic.

8 Hollywood Homicide Follows Two Moonlighting Detectives

Hollywood Homicide follows two detectives, the seasoned Joe Gavilan, who sells real estate on the side, and the rookie KC Calden, a wannabe actor who also teaches yoga teacher. Both cops in the Hollywood area, take on a case involving members of a rap group who were gunned down in a nightclub, and pursue a witness believed to have seen everything. Despite not clicking the way partners should, the duo manage to solve the case.

Hollywood Homicide is a fun and unique spin on the buddy cop sub-genre, playing up the cops' moonlighting gigs to explain their differences, aspirations and problems. In Hollywood, the film has a setting to match Mike and Marcus' Miami cases. In the movie's two stars, Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett, audiences have a great cross-generational partnership.

7 The Last Boy Scout Is an Underrated Private Detective Movie

The Last Boy Scout follows Joe Hallenbeck, an alcoholic former Secret Service agent turned private detective. With a failing marriage and little remaining self-respect, Joe takes a case from a friend to protect a stripper named Cory. However, when Cory is murdered, Joe teams up with her boyfriend, former NFL player Jimmy Dix. Despite friction between the pair, they form an effective team as they investigate the case, leading to a conspiracy at the top of professional football.

The Last Boy Scout follows Joe and Jimmy as they go from hating each other to forming one of the decade's best buddy dynamics. The film matches the tone of Bad Boys as a quintessentially '90s movie, delivering a similar amount of grit alongside the film's comedy. The movie may not be as well known as Bad Boys, but it maintains a healthy respect among action fans and is one of Bruce Willis' best roles.

6 Cobra Is Hard-Boiled Police Work at Its Finest

Cobra takes place in Los Angeles, which teeters on the brink of social collapse as crime escalates beyond control. The city's hard-boiled cop, Marion "Cobra" Cobretti has a reputation for being a no-nonsense, shoot-on-sight detective, one who can bring down the worst of the worst. When a local model, Ingrid, witnesses a murder committed by a cult leader known as the Night Slasher, Cobra takes her into protective custody. However, as the killer hunts for her, the cop and his witness are forced to take to the road to stay safe.

While Cobra doesn't have the buddy cop dynamic of Bad Boys, it almost perfectly mirrors its plot, from the sociopathic main bad guy to the witness protection plot. In the Night Slasher, the film has one of the action genre's scariest villains, coming across almost like a horror movie serial killer as much as anything else.

5 Rush Hour Follows Directly in Bad Boys' Footsteps

Rush Hour begins when a Hong Kong cop, Inspector Lee, fails to locate one of the city's biggest crime lords, known only as Juntao. His investigation takes him to Los Angeles, where he's partnered with LAPD Detective James Carter amidst an investigation into a kidnapped daughter of the Chinese consul. Their pairing is meant to be punishment for Carter, owing to his mishandling of an undercover operation, but the pair wind up taking on the case, proving better than their superiors.

Rush Hour leans into comedy a lot harder than Bad Boys, with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker providing for some fun character juxtaposition: where Tucker's Carter is a loudmouthed cop, Chan's Lee is a quieter, more methodical investigator. Despite cultural differences, the pair outshine their colleagues as they pursue Juntao and find the kidnapped girl, eventually returning for two sequels that are just as fun.

4 Red Heat Pairs a Chicago Detective with a Soviet Officer

Red Heat follows the arrival of Soviet cop Ivan Danko to the United States, where he partners with a Chicago detective, Ridzik, to track a master criminal, Viktor Rostavili. From the outset, the pair experience a clash of cultures as the Russian adjusts to the informal, even amateurish style of American policing, and Ridzik experiences the hard-boiled, no-nonsense methods of the USSR.

Red Heat has become a more obscure buddy cop movie, but it's one of the best of the '80s, casting Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his toughest roles opposite Jim Belushi. The idea of not only an international partnership but one of warring political philosophies amidst the Cold War also made for an oddly feel-good movie that set aside the national differences in favor of bonding over good, old-fashioned police work.

3 Tango & Cash Is a Campy Buddy Cop Story

Tango & Cash tells the story of two different cops. On the Westside, there's Ray Tango, a sensible detective with a mind for the stock market, and on the Eastside, Gabriel Cash is a hard-boiled cop who isn't afraid to break the rules to get results. After a cabal of Los Angeles' biggest criminals grow tired of having their operations hindered by the cops, they set in motion a plan to frame them for murder. When the cops are found guilty, they're sent to prison, where they're almost killed but manage to escape. Now fugitives from the law, they set about trying to prove their innocence.

Tango & Cash follows the cops as they set aside their differences to figure out who's responsible for sending them to prison. When they get the answers they need, the pair plan a firey revenge mission, but not before Cash sets his sights on Tango's attractive sister, causing a clash between the two. Of all the buddy cop movies, Tango & Cash stands out as one of the sillier, over-the-top machismo examples; however, it's still a fun movie.

2 Beverly Hills Cop Is a Fun Clash of Cultures

Beverly Hills Cop begins when a Detroit cop, Axel Foley, meets with an old childhood friend, who has just returned from Los Angeles. However, on their way back to Foley's apartment, he's attacked and his friend killed. After taking leave from his job as a police officer, Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) makes his way out to Beverly Hills, where he investigates his friend's employer and connections. While there, he attracts the unwanted attention of the police department, with two cops assigned to watch him. As he continues his investigation, he reels in his babysitters, leading to the discovery of an international drug operation.

Beverly Hills Cop has rightly earned a reputation as one of the greatest buddy cop movies of all time, with Foley and his new friends, Rosewood and Taggart, forming the perfect trio. The film strikes a great match with Bad Boys in its ability to balance comedy against a serious cop story — one centered around the drug trade and a sociopathic villain.

1 The Lethal Weapon Movies Perfected The Buddy Cop Genre