Bad Boy Sass

There's one simple reason why I dated so many bad boys and drug dealers in my formative years: Josh Hartnett. I can trace all of my bad boy yearnings back to The Faculty, where he plays Zeke, a brilliant, sensitive-on-the-inside, super foxy drug dealer. One look, and I was toast. Nice guys? No thanks, give me someone pushing uppers in the boys' bathroom. And, might I remind you who saves the day (AND lands the foxy English teacher)? Yup. I’m certain that he also contributed (along with the eyebrow god himself) to my lust for men with a strong brow.
  Wait, what’s that he’s driving there? Is it the sexiest car of all time driven in possibly the sassiest, sexiest bad boy entrance ever?

Yes, I’ll take two of whatever you’re selling, thanks.

That’s not to say that Hartnett was the only bad boy for me. Oh no, this was the era of the teen flick. Hottie bad boys and drug dealers were all over those days. Observe:

 Though Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You turned out to be more of a softie than you’d think, Heath Ledger still brought the sass. Also, please note: eyebrows.

Channing Tatum isn’t even my kind of guy, but put together bad boys and dance, and I’m sold anyway.

The only thing better than a bad boy? A bad boy set straight by the love of a good woman (even if it is in a sapfest like A Walk to Remember).

Good thing I saw The Faculty before I saw Scream…otherwise my penchant might have been for psychopathic killers.

Romeo? Totally a bad boy—he did kill Juliet’s cousin, after all. Though I have to say, the sass award in this picture definitely goes to Harold Perrineau.

And they weren’t just in movies…the bad boy eventually made his way to the small screen, too.

Joshua Jackson brought the sass with his bad boy Pacey.

Seriously, what dummy would have chosen lame-o good guy Dean over Jess? You did the right thing, Rory Gilmore.

Daniel Desario—bad boy AND burnout? Yes please.

Really, Mike Vogel’s character Jay Hogart just represented one of many rotating bad boys on Degrassi. But, as I have drunkenly posited on numerous occasions, he’s the big bad, as opposed to Spinner’s half-assed badness.

The O.C. was filled to the brim with sass (Julie Cooper-Nichol, anyone?) and reigning bad boy Ryan Atwood sassed with the best of them.

The sexy bad boy archetype isn’t limited to my generation, however. Remember these guys?

Please, Mr. Jailer, won’t you let my man go free?

You can put a baby in my corner, Johnny Castle. (Yeah, I said it.)

 
You’re yearning, burning for some…

 

Whoo, hoo, hoo…honey.

The classic.