It's "48Hrs." territory all over again in Dennis Dugan's disposable but enjoyable buddy cop comedy: by-the-book beat cop Steve Zahn and would-be cop Martin Lawrence can't stand each other and yet end up teaming together, as security guards, to unmask a mysterious gang of violent robbers responsible for the untimely death of Zahn's beat partner. No points for originality or subtlety in TV's "Spin City" writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn's formulaic script; but it does allow Lawrence and Zahn to develop an offbeat, often very funny opposites-attract chemistry underlined by a race-card subtext that applies equally to blacks and whites. And Dugan, a former TV actor and director, never loses sight that the film lives or dies on the basis of its stars, so he lets them run off with the material while reining them in just enough to keep them under control. A perfectly acceptable action comedy.
Review of National Security
