Vanessa Hudgens felt like she had a front row seat to a sketch comedy show watching Will Smith and Martin Lawrence work their magic on the set of Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

The High School Musical actress returns as weapons expert Kelly in the buddy cop action-comedy, in which Smith and Lawrence play Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett for the fourth time.

Hudgens revealed to Entertainment Weekly that it was a joy watching the actors bounce off each other during production.

“It’s the best. It’s genuinely the best. I feel like I always get to be front row in a sketch comedy stand-up show whenever I’m around them, because they’re always cracking jokes and just seeing them work is just such an honour,” she gushed.

Smith and Lawrence kicked off the franchise with 1995’s Bad Boys and followed it up eight years later with Bad Boys II. After a 17-year break, they returned with 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, in which Hudgens joined the cast.

The 35-year-old shared that the lead cop characters aren’t as agile as they used to be back in the 1990s.

“It’s the series we know and love with the characters that you know and love so dearly, meeting them at this point of their life. They’re not the young sprightly agents that they once were, and they really lean into that,” she said. “And it’s funny, you get to see a little bit of weakness in these really strong characters and get to see them lean on each other and have others kind of pick up the slack, but it’s just a good, fun ride that’ll have you cracking up the whole time.”

Bad Boys: Ride or Die will be released in cinemas on 5 June.

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