Columbia Pictures long since spent its box office capital on 8MM, so its final taste of summer action is Blue Streak, a buddy movie starring a comedian clawing his way up the movie-star ladder, B-movie by B-movie. Martin Lawrence isn't going to be mistaken for Eddie Murphy or Will Smith anytime in the next three years. And he's paired with Luke Wilson, best known for hits on the indie-quirky axis like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and Home Fries. Without stars, Columbia has had to promote the film by affixing the trailer to every single summer release and buying up half the ad banner space on the Web. The movie even has an achingly cheesy attempt at a catchphrase: "Believe that!" A catchphrase! What is this, the mid-'80s?

The surprise is that the whole concoction's not that bad. Maybe it's just nostalgia for car chases past, but it's almost sweet to see Blue Streak trot out the swerving cop cruisers and slow-motion Evel-Knievel stunts. Even more charming, director Les Mayfield cuts away in the middle of a shot of an airborne car to show its occupants screaming--clearly safe on the ground, since a bridge railing is visible through their windows. Then back to the flying car, then to the occupants pretending to bounce painfully as their car lands. In the final scene, Wilson reveals knowledge that we never saw him acquire, pointing unmistakably to key plot points left on the cutting-room floor.

It's almost conceivable that Mayfield and his crew have decided to dispense with continuity and story arcs since they realize the ridiculousness of it all. The resulting freedom, whether born of ignorance, irony, or simple neglect, lends a certain heady air of abandon to the proceedings. Lawrence can't be accused of uplifting the race with his bug-eyed, step-and-fetch-it shenanigans, but at least he never lets up. And Wilson, as a white-bread, straight-arrow detective just off traffic detail, gives his role an earnest dignity that plays far funnier than the usual dumb-cop antics. Mayfield, the director of the pre-show reel for Back to the Future: The Ride, knows how to move people in and out of the theater without giving them time to think.