Blue Streak (1999)

1.5 out of 4

Starring: Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, William Forsythe, Graham Beckel

Director: Les Mayfield

Time: 93 mins

Comedian Martin Lawrence is slowly building a resume of moderately successful films, capped by his recent turn in Big Momma's House. Prior to this, he starred in the Michael Bay actioner, Bad Boys, with Will Smith, Nothing to Lose, with Tim Robbins, and the prison comedy-drama Life, with Eddie Murphy. Blue Streak was one of his first solo starring vehicles, an action-comedy that tries to capitalise on Lawrence's charm and charisma. Unfortunately, the film is a bit of a mess, with a plot that veers from implausibility to downright stupidity. The success of Big Momma's House will inevitably mean more Martin Lawrence films, but I think he did better when partnered with someone like a Will Smith or an Eddie Murphy. Lawrence could probably carry a film on his own, but not when he's saddled with a script as wildly idiotic as that for Blue Streak.

Lawrence is Miles Logan, a jewel thief with a flair for gadgets. After stealing a large diamond, he is betrayed by partner Deacon (Peter Greene) and sent to prison, but not before hiding the diamond in the heating ducts at a construction site. When he is released a couple of years later, he returns to the same site, only to find it has become a police station. He worms his way into the robbery division, and soon becomes its lead detective, with a new partner, Carlson (Luke Wilson). While fellow cops Hardcastle (William Forsythe) and Rizzo (Graham Beckel) scratch their heads in disbelief, Miles manages to disarm criminals, expose frauds, conduct drug busts, and generally become the man the department has been looking for. Meanwhile, Deacon is back on his trail, and Miles must evade him while trying to search for the diamond.

While Blue Streak cannot be called boring, it is billed as an action comedy, and hence, one would expect, there should be some funny bits and a bit of action. As a comedy, however, it is not very funny (at best), and what few action sequences there are are pedestrian (to say the least). Probably the worst thing to come out of the movie is the depiction of the LAPD. Miles' partner, Carlson, may be a novice, but he is shown to be fairly stupid throughout. Then, near the end, after he discovers the film's biggest secret, he merely lets it go, as if it meant nothing. Huh? What's going on here? And Miles' method of gaining entrance to a security section of the police station is even more laughable (for its silliness, that is). Gee, if I had such a lax police force looking after my well-being, I'd be complaining loudly and often!

Lawrence does his best with such inane material, but not even someone like Eddie Murphy could have pulled this off. His wide-eyed portrayal of Miles is similar to the cop from Bad Boys and even his role from Big Momma's House (well, at least from what I've seen of the trailer). Luke Wilson, brother of fellow actor Owen (from The Haunting and Shanghai Noon), doesn't do anything to suggest he has much potential. Evil-looking Greene (Redfoot from The Usual Suspects) looks evil, as evil-looking people do, but the others in the cast, most of them playing cops, don't do much more than look stupid.

Blue Streak did fairly well at the North American box office, due no doubt to the appeal of Lawrence and the promise of another cop action-comedy (past efforts like Rush Hour, the Lethal Weapon series, and Bad Boys have usually done good business). What undoes it for me, however, is the stupidity and implausibility of it all. Granted, one must sometimes suspend their disbelief, as long as the event or action is at least believable in the context of the world portrayed. What happens in Blue Streak makes me shake my head. If you're totally undemanding in what you expect from an action-comedy, then Blue Streak might just fit the bill. If, however, you find, as an example, the following scene - a person posing as a pizza delivery man easily steals a security card from an unsuspecting cop, and then that cop doesn't even notice it missing for the rest of the movie - at least a little stupid, then stay far away from this film.

(c) Joe Wong (29 July 2000)