5 out of 10
 

The objective of a comedy is to make you laugh. This film does very successfully, but don`t expect anything more. From the first few seconds, you gain the intense feeling that you are watching a series of sketches, written separately and then loosely tied together by a one-dimensional plot, each designed to allow Martin Lawrence behave like a Monty Python character to squeeze out the laughs.

A jewel thief, he has to hide his ill-gotten gains on a building site, only to find it`s now a Police Station, when he comes back after several years in jail and has to pretend to be a Police Officer to "break into it". As anyone with half a brain can guess, after behaving like a 5 year old, whose stolen the key to the cookie cupboard, he becomes a crime-solving hero in the process and is promoted to head the burgulary dept as a result.

Yet, whilst it is extremely funny, one has to question the corrosive undertones, by portraying him as "clever" enough to do things the regular cops aren’t allowed to, like beating up prisoners. So much for civil rights!