BLUE STREAK

US, 1999, 94 minutes, Colour.
Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Dave Chappelle, Peter Greene, Nicole Ari Parker, William Forsyth.
Directed by Les Mayfield.

Blue Streak is a star vehicle for Martin Lawrence. After a television career and some films (including The Thin Line Between Love and Hate which he also directed), he became a star with Bad Boys. After appearing with Eddie Murphy (and he can be seen as a comedian in the tradition of Eddie Murphy) he made Life. Blue Streak, Big Momma's House, National Security, Black Knight are among the films he made on his own. For many, his over-the-top comic style is an acquired taste.

He is a jewel thief here who, after his prison term, wants to recover a jewel that he hid in an abandoned building but which has now become a police station. With a forged card as a policeman, he joins the squad, capturing criminals, thwarting escapes, eventually trying to recapture the diamond. He is partnered with Luke Wilson.

The film is enjoyable even if routine. Direction is by Les Mayfield, the director of routine films like Encino Man, Flubber, The Miracle on 34th Street.

1. Entertaining comedy? Police thriller? Combination of the two? The title and its tone?

2. The film as a star vehicle for Martin Lawrence, his screen presence, his personality, style, wit, slapstick humour, size? Partnering with Luke Wilson? The racial partnership? The serio-comic partnership?

3. Los Angeles, the opening sequences of the jewel robbery? The new police station? The precinct? The streets of LA, criminal activity? The desert? The musical score and the range of songs?

4. Miles Logan, as a robber, his team, comic style, the robbery itself, the diamond? Deacon killing his partners? His arrest? Coming out of jail, wanting to recover the diamond, discovering the police station?

5. His forged card, his becoming a policeman? Arrival at the precinct, searching for the location of the diamond? Stopping the criminal in the restrooms? The admiration by the police, his being accepted, promoted, on the streets? Partnering Carlson?

6. His adventures as a police partner, chasing the armed robber, stopping Tully? The activity behind the scenes, searching for the diamond, eventually finding it? The loss of the diamond, the heroin stash, the sting operation intended for the drug dealers? His frustrations?

7. The personality of Carlson, quiet, learning the black African style from Miles? The officials in the police station? Hardcastle and his wanting Miles along for the sting?

8. The sting in the desert, Captain Hardcastle, the shootout with Deacon, his death? The arrest of the dealers?
9. Miles learning that Hardcastle and Logan knew that he was the thief? Their letting him go in Mexico?

10. The relationship with his girlfriend, visiting her house, meeting her large cousin, her disdain for him?

11. The comic loner, petty criminal, genial?