Anthony's Film Review - Blue Streak (1999)

Martin Lawrence delivers a good performance in this funny action flick...

Martin Lawrence may not have done a lot of good movies, but if I had to pick one of his movies that I consider to be pretty good, I would pick Blue Streak. Honestly, I think he did a fine job in this one. In addition, I do like the premise of the movie. The idea of it is funny, and if it's carried out just right, the execution can be just as entertaining. All of it is enough for me to make a marginal recommendation for Blue Streak.

Imagine this. Martin Lawrence plays a thief named Miles. He and his comrades attempt to steal a valuable diamond, but the heist goes horribly wrong. The police are called to catch these crooks. In the chaos, Miles hides the diamond inside an incomplete ventilation shaft at a construction site. Once he does, he is caught. Now imagine that he serves his sentence, gets out of jail, and returns to the site of his arrest. Imagine his frustration when he finds the building under construction is finished. To make matters worse, it's a police station.

That right there is the first thing that is funny. The men and women in uniform who apprehended him have, in a way, taken control of the site of the diamond (without knowing it, of course). Now what does Miles do? He resorts to the nearly impossible measure: pretend to be a cop and enroll in that local department. With clever forgeries, the ruse works. He becomes a member of the force who has to find moments of opportunity to get that diamond. Most of the time, he's stuck working.

Miles does have a rather cool partner (Luke Wilson) to patrol with, so there's a bit of bonding between cops. You might say that's a good thing because it prevents suspicion. One funny situation does come up, though. Miles has to stop a convenience store robbery in progress. The robber turns out to be a friend of his (Dave Chappelle). While out of sight, the two work out a way to make things look normal so Miles's false identity doesn't get exposed.

There's nothing extraordinary about Blue Streak. It's a standard fun-filled action comedy, which does lead up to the climax that finally answers our big question: does Miles get the diamond? The last few minutes play out quite well and left me smiling. When you have a movie that holds together even until the last shot, it's a good movie in my book. As a cop movie, Blue Streak does hold a winning streak.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Blue Streak, visit the Internet Movie Database.