Blue Streak (1999)

I’m not convinced I’ve seen anything before Blue Streak starring Martin Lawrence that doesn’t contain him as a hugely irritating screen presence. Bad Boys (1995) is kinda fun, Bad Boys 2 (2003) is dreadful, and the snippets I’ve seen of Big Momma's House (2000) are beyond insulting. Blue Streak sees Lawrence playing a thief who, upon being captured by police during his latest job, hides a diamond in the ducts of a building under construction. After serving his time in prison, Miles (Lawrence) goes back to the scene of the crime to retrieve what he believes to be rightfully his. The only problem is, the construction site is now, obviously, a police station. So what to do? After a couple of failed attempts to gain access, Miles decides the only way to achieve his goal is to, naturally, pose as a detective. This has ludicrous and predictable consequences, the film is so stupid and the characters in it so imbecilic that it transpires that Miles is a useful cop, y’know, being able to speak the street lingo with criminals and such. Blue Streak is inherently stupid. And yet. I found myself laughing at the absurdity of a lot of it, but not in a hateful or irritated way. The film knows exactly what it is, years ago you would have picked it up from a bargain bin or your local rental store to watch with your teenage son over a takeaway. Lawrence is merely stupid, not irritating, the surrounding cast, despite their scripted stupidity bounce off Miles rather well (mainly Luke Wilson) and Blue Streak ends up being sort of fun, in an utterly mindless way. 5.9/10