Open September 17, 1999

Hoping to beat Beverly Hills Cop 4 to the punch, Blue Streak is a mildly enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing, end of summer entry. Martin Lawrence tries to strut his stuff as a former jewel thief posing as a cop, but director Les Mayfield doesn't seem to know what to do with the actor's raw energy. Lawrence comes off more as a wise-cracking puppet than the edgy, Eddie Murphy-esque guy we've come to appreciate in films like Bad Boys.

As Miles Logan, jewel thief extraordinaire, Lawrence easily grabs our attention in the tensely filmed opening action sequence, working a heist in which the prize is a fist-sized diamond. While Logan sweats and scrambles to grab the rock, nasty/greedy partner Deacon (Peter Greene) muses that splitting the diamond one way - his way - is better than splitting it four ways. Deacon shoots one of the other gang members, then sets his sites on Logan and the rock. Narrowly making his escape, Logan races to a nearby building, currently under construction, and stashes the jewel inside of an air-conditioning duct.

Predictably, Logan gets caught by the cops, while Deacon and get-away driver Tulley (David Chappelle) disappear into the night. Flash forward two years: Logan gets out of jail and, natch, sets off to claim his "buried" treasure. As luck would have it, he quickly discovers that the building where he hid his diamond is now a police station. There's only one thing to do. Street-smart, wise-talking jewel thief Logan poses as street-smart, wise-talking undercover cop Miles Malone. From there, it's a free-for-all as Logan takes his place alongside Los Angeles' finest and the expected wackiness ensues.

As premises go, this one has such promise that it is almost heartbreaking to see how it falls on its face. The problem here lies less with Mayfield or Lawrence and more with the script itself written by Michael Berry, John Blumenthal and Stephen Carpenter. Despite attempts to make the arena seem fresh, we are forced to wade through regurgitated genre flotsam in order to find the few moments of real humor and tangible plot.

Here are just a few examples: The writers introduce a potential (and painfully awkward) love story, only to discard it in the first act. They resort to the buddy cop scenario with easy going Luke Wilson as Carlson, but never make an attempt to fully develop the relationship. They string bad guy Deacon throughout, but he seems more like an afterthought than an essential character. Overall, action interludes serve to distract us from the fact that there is little more than lip-service being paid to the plot.

Amidst all this, Lawrence does his schtick, which feels more like filler than an inherent part of his formerly intense jewel thief persona. Granted, he has his funny moments and he is quite likeable, but most of it seems forced, like window dressing in a shabby house. If anything, it's rather like watching Jackie Chan in Rush Hour: It's not his best work, but at least it shows you why he's good at what he does. It's just unfortunate that Lawrence doesn't have much to do. He pulls the standard bits, such as showing the cops how to think like a crook, but none of this is taken to the next level. Indeed, in one disappointing development, Logan bumps into former partner Tulley during a bust and begs him not to divulge his identity. What could have been a fall-on-the-floor funny sequence is flat, unimaginative and predictable. Both Chappelle and Lawrence are wasted.

Despite all the bungling, Blue Streak still has its moments. Most of them are thanks to the cast as a whole, who work together beautifully, showing a lot of heart and creating an ensemble feel where everyone is important. Along with Wilson, Chapelle and Greene, character actor Carmen Argenziano as Captain Penelli and William Forsythe as cop Hardcastle add a great deal to the mix. Production credits are strictly ho-hum, except for the edgy opening sequence.

If films could be judged on premise alone, then Blue Streak would get the prize. Yet, somehow, the basic idea -- getting back the rock -- is lost to gimmicks and plot filler. It becomes painfully clear very early on that neither the writers nor the director really thought about their story, relying on Lawrence's solo style to support it all. Unfortunately, Lawrence frolics in a vacuum here, and his energy is ill-used in a film whose story ambles rather than hits us square in the face.