Rows of vacant chairs surrounded me as the previews began for “National Security”.

Within the first fifteen minutes it became clear as to why the theater was empty.

Modeled after other unintelligent action comedies such as “48hrs” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” “National Security” deals with the clichéd issues of racial profiling, police brutality and corruption in law enforcement.

After being kicked out of the police academy, Earl (Martin Lawrence) is caught trying to retrieve his car keys, which were accidentally locked in his car, by officer Hank (Steve Zahn), who thinks that he is trying to steal the car. Officer Hank questions him about the car. Earl gets defensive and turns the entire scene into a racial attack.

As Earl gets attacked by a bumblebee, officer Hank tries to beat the bee away from Earl with his baton, which then makes it appear as if the officer is brutalizing Earl.

Tourists catch this incident on camera and turn it into the local news channel. Later on officer Hank is sentenced to six months in jail and loses his badge.

After completion of his sentence he joins a team of national security officers and learns later on that he has to work with Earl. They later become buddies, but as in all buddy films they have to work through their problems first and get them resolved. After all that is resolved, they then work together in trying to catch criminals who killed Hank’s former partner and also work together in revealing a dirty cop.

“National Security” will definitely offend and upset a sensitive heart. Lawrence’s character in this movie is just made out to be obnoxious and rude. He uses his skin-color as a ticket to everything.

The movie possesses a copious amount of what is needed to make a great movie, but it all falls apart because of the endless plot holes, the abrasive performances and the banal shoot-outs.

The talent of these two wonderful actors is simply wasted in this movie. They don’t get to show their potential as comedians. The actual comedy in the movie is simply weak and undeveloped. It is solely based on the racial slurs, which gets very old and boring.

People who enjoyed Eddie Murphy’s cop movies will certainly enjoy “National Security.” Those who didn’t enjoy any of those movies are definitely better off without this one.

My “private screening” ended with the realization that other movie goers were smart enough to know that the movie is an absolute flop.