‘Blue Streak’ Lacks Laughs, Profanity

Toward the end of “Blue Streak,” there’s a scene in which a tiny car tries, improbably, to shove a huge, armored truck off a highway. It could be a metaphor for the movie, in which scrawny Martin Lawrence tries to form a gigantic lump into a shape that resembles entertainment.

The movie is a pathetic waste of talent, both Lawrence’s and his co-star, Dave Chappelle’s. Former stand-up comedians, both could put together five minutes of comedy off the top of their heads that would have more laughs than the 90 minutes of “Blue Streak.” It’s particularly sad to see Lawrence flailing around, trying to resuscitate the movie. His is a uniquely unruly talent, fueled by a I’ve-made-it-through-rotten-times vibe that manages to be sweet, hostile and funny all at once, and he deserves a movie that gives him the opportunities he created for himself in the concert film, “You So Crazy,” which remains the best way to experience his talent on film.

Here, he’s a crook who pretends to be a cop in an effort to retrieve a diamond that, through a series of events that would make me nod off if I described them, ended up in a police station. The one virtue of the script is that it gives Lawrence a brief scene in which to masquerade as a dorky pizza delivery man. It’s an inspired vignette, because it lets him cut loose and be silly, but the rest of the film can be summed up as: yelling, treading water, more yelling, tedious chase scene.

Chappelle doesn’t have much to do, which is too bad, and Luke Wilson, as Lawrence’s partner on the police force, has quite a bit to do, which is too worse. Wilson is effective when he’s sleepily under-playing a role, as he did in “Home Fries” and “Rushmore,” but he tries to match Lawrence’s energy level here and, outside of a kindergarten classroom, there’s no way anyone can top Lawrence in the over-stimulation department.

This is, however, the first Martin Lawrence movie kindergarteners may attend without their parents. There’s very little profanity, by Lawrence standards, which means that “Blue Streak” is so completely unsatisfying that it doesn’t even deliver on the swearing its title promises.

“BLUE STREAK” Locations: Lincoln Heights, Newport Highway, River Park Square, Spokane Valley, Coeur d’Alene Showboat Cinemas. Credits: Directed by Les Mayfield, starring Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, William Forsythe, Dave Chappelle, Nicole Parker. Running time: 1:35. Rating: R.