Is it possible for Martin Lawrence to make a good film? It seems not, since flops like "Blue Streak" and "Black Knight." Lawrence's latest role in "National Security" just adds another notch into a well-worn belt of garbage movies.
This isn't the first time director Dennis Dugan has embarrassed himself with an eye-roller. He takes credit for films such as "Saving Silverman" and "Beverly Hills Ninja."
This is Dugan's first time working with Martin Lawrence, who plays Earl, an obnoxious and prejudiced security guard from "the hood." Earl may have a few funny lines about his world, where "the black man is always being oppressed by the white man," but these get stale with over-usage and sometimes cross the line of being offensive to everyone in the theater.
Lawrence is paired up with Hank (Steve Zahn, "Riding In Cars With Boys," "Stuart Little"). After confronting each other during a traffic stop that escalates out of control, Earl and Hank are partnered up as lowly security guards. At odds from the beginning, all Earl and Hank have in common is that both are L.A.P.D. rejects: Hank just got kicked out and Earl can't even get in.
Despite being stuck on the lowest rung of the law enforcement ladder, Earl and Hank uncover a sophisticated smuggling operation led by Nash (Eric Roberts) and his band of thugs. When Earl and Hank get their hands on some hot illegal property, they are on the run, first from the bad guys, then the L.A.P.D
What these two unlikely partners do to law enforcement is a crime. The L.A.P.D is unjustly represented as comprised solely of corrupt buffoons, and as in Lawrence's other films, idiots save the day instead of well-trained, legitimate law enforcement officers. Then again, if legit law enforcement had big guns and strategically-placed car explosions, maybe they would fare as well as these two brain-dead characters.
It is a mystery why Lawrence, who is at his best when doing stand-up, continues to play these unrealistic and foolish characters on the big screen. He is a humorous comedian, not a humorous actor. His "Def Comedy Jam" series was incredibly funny, allowing Lawrence to establish himself with a unique comedic style. His movies, on the other hand, continue to slash at his credibility as a comedian, since they're hardly ever even slightly funny.
Either Lawrence is as dimwitted as the viewers who truly enjoy his films, or he's so self-absorbed, he doesn't care about the quality of his films so long as his name is up on the marquee.
Only one thing is accomplished in "National Security": it satisfies every viewer's morbid curiosity to see if a thing is really as bad as it looks. Like a car accident, this movie entices because of its repulsiveness. Its silly humor, mixed with a weak attempt at a dramatic story line, is predictable and tiresome.
If this movie makes any sort of profit, we should all drop out of school and make horrible movies instead.
