Sadly, there seems to be only two roles for African-American comedians in mainstream movies. One is a wisecracking, motor-mouthed criminal. The other is a wisecracking, motor-mouthed cop.

Blue Streak tries to show a touch of originality by featuring Martin Lawrence as a wisecracking, motor-mouthed criminal who impersonates a wisecracking, motor-mouthed cop. Two birds, one stone. Has any one seen 48 Hours?

Miles (Lawrence) steals a huge diamond and is forced to hide it in a ventilation shaft at a construction site after the heist goes wrong. He is arrested and goes to jail for two years. Upon his release, he rushes to the site only to discover that it is now a brand-new Los Angeles police station. He quickly finds a police badge, obtains some nice clothes and before you can say, "These police officers must be complete morons not to see through this,"

Miles is the lead detective for the L.A.P.D. robbery division, biding his time until he can recover his precious jewel. It is all in good fun, though.

For better or worse, Blue Streak is a Martin Lawrence movie. He mugs, shouts, whines and dances through a role that he, and many other comedians before him, have played before. At times he is entertaining, and at times he is incredibly annoying. More often than not, though, he manages to be likable at the very least.

His performance is backed by the supporting cast, featuring comedian Dave Chappelle as a wisecracking, motor-mouthed crook (surprised?), Luke Wilson as his straight-laced partner and Peter Greene as his double-crossing ex-partner in crime. They are all standard action/comedy archetypes, but they hold their own just enough to keep this movie floating around mediocre.

Another pleasant surprise is the writing. While it cannot be called original by any stretch of the imagination, it does manage to put Lawrence in enough humorous situations to keep the laughs coming and the plot moving.

Lawrence trains himself to be a police officer by watching COPS. His interrogations are hilarious wrestling matches with the suspects and all of his scenes with Tulley (Chappelle) are laugh-worthy. Even Miles and Det. Carlson's (Wilson) partnership is mildly amusing, with the pair playing up their differences to the hilt for predictable, but funny, results.

The drawn-out situations become annoying as Lawrence rambles through his dialogue and unleashes random series of unintelligible nonsense that are supposed to be funny but instead grate on the senses.

The climactic showdown-gunfight-car chase is poorly constructed and ends with a needlessly violent twist that seems out of character for Miles.

Obvious technical errors also mar the movie. In one scene, Lawrence wanders into a room wearing goggles and carrying a remote control. Seconds later, they are gone. They vanished thanks to some shoddy editing.

If you can stomach 93 minutes of pure, PG-13 Martin Lawrence, then rush out to catch Blue Streak. Otherwise rent 48 Hours and watch a young Eddie Murphy shine as a wisecracking, motor-mouthed criminal who impersonates- what else- a wisecracking, motor-mouthed cop.