Blue Streak

Committees make movies like "Blue Streak," and the finished product looks as if this particular panel still hasn't reached a quorum, much less a consensus.

It starts out like a caper flick that shifts, almost by accident, into an episode from the old "Martin" TV series. Eventually, it settles for being a bleached, cluttered photostat of "Beverly Hills Cop," if only a bit more clever than the original.

What makes this confusion troubling is that "Blue Streak" repre-sents Martin Lawrence's first real chance to distinguish himself as a movie lead, unencumbered by charismatic sidekicks such as Will Smith ("Bad Boys") or Eddie Murphy ("Life") sharing top billing.

Even more than those aforementioned stars, Lawrence's manic-teddy-bear persona is capable of making you laugh at him the mo-ment he appears on screen. If we lived in smarter, better times, someone would have thought long ago about giving Lawrence's penchant for outrageous comic transformation the kind of cinematic framework Peter Sellers was routinely given in his early years.

Instead, critics and producers alike pegged Lawrence as being little more than a Murphy clone. This is the same stupid thinking that puts Chris Rock and Chris Tucker as equals because they're black, funny and have the same first names. Still, if I were Lawrence, the last (or next-to-last) thing I'd want for my own vehicle is the kind of action-comedy that made Murphy a box-office powerhouse.

Nonetheless, here is Lawrence, going for the gold as Miles Logan, a clever, quick-on-his-feet jewel thief whose plans to steal a $20 million diamond are waylaid by a treacherous partner. Just before he's caught, Miles stashes the rock in the air duct of a half-finished building in downtown Los Angeles. Two years later, he's paroled and ready to collect his prize. Instead, he gets the surprise of his life: the finished building is the 37th Los Angeles Police Department precinct building.

All he has to do is find the air duct, pick up the diamond and split. To do this he has to pretend to be one of the LAPD's finest. Trouble is, Miles is so convincing and effective — as a faux robbery cop that he can't get his buddies in blue to leave him alone long enough to get his prize.

As noted, it's a clever premise. But the movie weighs it down with so many digressions (the obligatory foreign drug kingpin, Dave Chappelle doing the old "buck-and-wing" as Miles' street-punk confederate) that its 90-plus minutes seem more like 180.

Still, Lawrence handles both the comic and action sides of his role with surprising ease. But, as Murphy himself eventually did, he also should ponder more challenging vehicles to drive.