The wisecracking crime comedy -- it's one of Hollywood's oldest gimmicks, and especially one perfected by Martin Lawrence. In the last several years he's stared in Life, Nothing to Lose, and Bad Boys, all of which prominently featured his self-patented style of shtick on par with contemporaries Chris Rock and Chris Tucker. But there's only so much you can do with the same routine, and no matter how you dress it up, the Les Mayfield-directed Blue Streak is going to come out like recycled material. And indeed it is -- although at times funny and even occasionally hilarious, it has the distinctive reek of "been there-done that."

      Although Lawrence made great strides in his last film, the prison comedy Life, this latest is perhaps more of the Nothing to Lose nature. Lawrence once again does the pathetic thief bit, and although he's not as much of a bottom-feeder as he was in that 1997 comedy, he's certainly just as much a cardboard cutout.

      As Miles Davis, Lawrence also does a bit of fish-out-of-water work. Taking off with a $17 million diamond, his heist is interrupted by some nosy cops and he's forced to stash the loot in the bowels of a construction site. Returning two years later after a short stint behind bars, Miles finds that his hiding spot has become a police station. So he's got to pose as an officer of the law to have a chance at reuniting with his rock. What he intends to be a few hours' work, however, ends up becoming a very involved task, and with a little patience he ends up liking the badge. But all the while he's on the lookout for the next chance to grab his prize and bug out.

      The laughs are predictable early on when Miles is introduced to his inexperienced white guy of a partner Detective Carlson (Luke Wilson). Immediately the comedy takes the same tone it did in Nothing to Lose, but there the sight of jive-talking Martin Lawrence implicitly taking potshots at his more conservative co-star was a far more successful move. Perhaps it's because Wilson lacks the onscreen presence of a name like Tim Robbins, or perhaps it's because the routine feels like it's been run through a thousand washing machines. Either way, it's definitely lost some of its color.

      The inclusion of action helps the process along, especially in sustaining the picture through its later moments. Miles leads the boys of the LAPD on one or two action-packed chases in Blue Streak, and while it's certainly no Jerry Bruckheimer production, it's certainly pleasing to see something blow up. This is especially true because the dialogue isn't up to par for an up-tempo style actioner.

      This is director Mayfield's first action film, although he has done work with comedy before. The ill-fated Flubber and the Pauly Shore vehicle Encino Man are among his credits, with the ugly duckling Miracle on 34th Street rounding out the bunch. While this is not a top-of-the-line bunch, it is evidence that Mayfield knows his way around a movie or two, and that certainly prevents this Lawrence vehicle from going south.

      Give him a few more years, though, and Martin Lawrence may throw a hit at us yet. His presence has not yet become annoying on the big screen, and with the right career choices, he may avoid that pothole. In the meantime, we'll have to endure these instantly forgettable ventures like Blue Streak.

Craig Roush, 1999