National Security

Martin Lawrence’s painful penchant for overacting once again fells what could’ve been an entertaining comedic actioner, with the actor’s obnoxious performance proving a test to the viewer’s patience virtually from the word go. And as interminable his work was in Blue Streak, Lawrence actually fares even worse here – as his character’s motor-mouth tendencies are exacerbated by an ugly emphasis on racist jokes and asides. The story follows a pair of security guards (Lawrence’s Earl Montgomery and Steve Zahn’s Hank Rafferty) as they find themselves embroiled in a smuggling operation with far-reaching implications, though the bulk of the proceedings revolves around the mismatched pair’s efforts at getting past their indelible hatred for one another. There’s little doubt that National Security‘s opening half hour is as disastrous and interminable as one might’ve suspected, as director Dennis Dugan eschews overt instances of plot in favor of Lawrence’s fast-talking antics – which effectively prevents one from connecting to the material in any substantial way. It’s only as screenwriters Jay Scherick and David Ronn begin to wholeheartedly embrace the cliches of the buddy-cop genre that the film slowly-but-surely morphs into a mindlessly enjoyable actioner, with the inclusion of several familiar staples (eg characters run away from an explosion, a car bursts through a wall in slow motion, etc) successfully compensating for Lawrence’s less-than-stellar work (to a certain degree, anyway). The expectedly violent climax, which even boasts a fairly effective bad-guy death, ensures that National Security ends on a relatively high note, and it’s ultimately clear that the movie would’ve been far better off with virtually any other actor in the Lawrence role.

** out of ****