Reel Reviews | Blue Streak

by Joe Barber

Martin Lawrence is a talented guy and parts of Blue Streak prove that.

He’s a thief who stashed a very valuable gem in a building under construction just before he’s arrested. When he gets out of jail, five years later, he finds the building’s been completed and it’s a police precinct. The only way he can get access is to pretend to be a cop and turns out to be an even better detective than the real ones.

The movie’s set-up is strong but midway through, it loses whatever freshness and originality it had. Think back to what Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor could have done with this plot 10 or 20 years ago and you’ll know why Blue Streak left me so disappointed. Memo to Martin: Time to sit down and think, really think about where you want to go with your career and no, back to that alleged “sitcom” is not an option!