Review

A case of a good comedian being sabotaged by bad material, Blue Streak is an ill-paced and very frantic action-comedy which isn't half as funny as it thinks it is. Lawrence (who was much better in his other 1999 film Life) stars as a jewel thief who must impersonate a cop in order to retrieve his stolen, hidden stash. In the process, he solves a few cases while earning the admiration of his "fellow officers" all the while trying desperately to grab the diamond and run. The premise isn't a bad one, but in the hands of director Mayfield and the screenwriters Lawrence is reduced to shrieking and flailing and horrible mugging -- no one lets the funny set-up play out. Forget the fact the everyone around him act like idiots; but in the process, Lawrence becomes one too, and he's too talented a comedian to be reduced to such mindless shenanigans.