Martin Lawrence

In the film Boomerang, Martin Lawrence portrayed a sex-starved young man trying to persuade buddy Eddie Murphy not to abandon his wild, promiscuous ways. In the two House Party movies, Lawrence was the signifying disc jockey with bad breath and a terminal case of randiness. And in Do the Right Thing, Lawrence played one of three cornerboys who passed their time hassling the neighborhood drunk. But those roles, even though they were in successful films, were not what propelled Lawrence to the forefront of the comedy world and landed him a sitcom.

If you're Martin Lawrence these days, you've got to be wondering if it's all worth it. His career long dogged by controversy and contention, the hyperactive funnyman has recently emerged from an extended downward spiral. Following a series of highly publicized personal malfunctions, Lawrence, 34, did some serious self-assessment, re-established his mental/spiritual equilibrium and got his professional life back on track. Having executed a challenging performance in the spring film release "Life" and earning high preview audience marks for the action comedy "Blue Streak," which opens Friday, Lawrence was in understandably positive spirits during an Aug. 8 interview.

Fifteen years ago, when Richard Pryor exalted the comedy performance film with his sidesplitting Live in Concert, he mimicked his own rebellious heart precipitating an attack, possibly the three funniest minutes of stand-up ever preserved on film. In Martin Lawrence's new concert film You So Crazy, the young star of the Fox series Martin also mimics an organ with a mind of its own: his penis. For reasons unrelated to propriety or Puritanism, a defiant sexual organ is not quite so funny - or rare - as a mutinous heart.

Tisha Campbell, singer and star of the new movie Sprung, has a lot to say about Martin. "We just got married Aug. 17," she says of her husband, Duane Martin, a basketball player and actor she met at an audition almost seven years ago. Not that Martin. "The best thing about Martin is that Tichina and I became even closer than we were," says Campbell, referring to her best friend, Tichina Arnold, who played Pam on the Fox sitcom and is Campbell's duet partner on the Sprung sound track.

Imagine, if you can, the movie Bad Boys as originally conceived. Imagine two Miami buddies. One is a rich kid, a womanizer, a flamboyant dresser who drives a sleek black Porsche. The other, a solid if jumpy and angst-ridden family man. Both are cops. But these cops crack jokes more often than they crack heads. Imagine Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz as the cops. Hard to imagine, huh, Martin Lawrence? "Yeah, that would be a different movie," Lawrence says, laughing.

In "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate," Martin Lawrence takes on the "Fatal Attraction" theme with a comedic twist. And this time, all parties get what they deserve. Lawrence makes his feature directing debut with this even-handed romantic comedy that takes an unexpectedly serious turn. He stars as Darnell Wright, a player who sees most women as romantic bait. The only women he has any respect for are his mother (Della Reese), his sister (Malinda Williams), and his high school chum Mia (Regina King)

You would have thought one movie would be enough to squeeze all the comedic possibilities out of the ruse of Martin Lawrence masquerading as a fat, elderly woman. But Big Momma's House 2 provides so many fresh occasions for hilarity: Big Momma at a spa frequented by (what else?) Victoria's Secret models; Big Momma at the beach in a clingy yellow bathing suit and blond braids, re-creating the scene from 10 with Bo Derek jogging in the sand; Big Momma doing backflips in a cheerleader's outfit.

Raven-Symoné stars in a family comedy so base and shoddy it could be titled That's So Craven . She's a very mature-looking high-schooler with her heart set on Georgetown University. But her helicopter father (Martin Lawrence) wants to keep her closer to home, at Northwestern. (Most parents would be delighted if their child got into either of these universities.) Daughter and overprotective dad set out to visit schools in his snazzy police cruiser. (His department must have a generous policy on personal use of vehicles.

The reason we are over "Martin" is basically an ego thing. His. We loved Martin Lawrence when he first hit Fox, playing the I'm-so-crazy homeboy whose bark was always bigger than his bite, and whose foot was usually planted in his mouth as a result of some macho faux pas. Working his way up in the talk-radio business, he adored his girl, Gina, and she loved him right back - even though she made three times the money he did, drove a better...

It's a funny thing what a brush with death will do to a person. Six years ago Martin Lawrence was running near his Los Angeles home when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. Rushed to the hospital, he was comatose. When he awoke, Lawrence began to do some soul searching that led the former Hollywood enfant terrible to make major changes in his life. "You begin to see that the things you thought were important aren't that important," said Lawrence, now 40. "What's important is taking care of you. " Specifically Lawrence realized, "It's not important to me to be out at the clubs partying all the time.

Raven-Symoné stars in a family comedy so base and shoddy it could be titled That's So Craven . She's a very mature-looking high-schooler with her heart set on Georgetown University. But her helicopter father (Martin Lawrence) wants to keep her closer to home, at Northwestern. (Most parents would be delighted if their child got into either of these universities.) Daughter and overprotective dad set out to visit schools in his snazzy police cruiser. (His department must have a generous policy on personal use of vehicles.

You would have thought one movie would be enough to squeeze all the comedic possibilities out of the ruse of Martin Lawrence masquerading as a fat, elderly woman. But Big Momma's House 2 provides so many fresh occasions for hilarity: Big Momma at a spa frequented by (what else?) Victoria's Secret models; Big Momma at the beach in a clingy yellow bathing suit and blond braids, re-creating the scene from 10 with Bo Derek jogging in the sand; Big Momma doing backflips in a cheerleader's outfit.

It's a funny thing what a brush with death will do to a person. Six years ago Martin Lawrence was running near his Los Angeles home when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. Rushed to the hospital, he was comatose. When he awoke, Lawrence began to do some soul searching that led the former Hollywood enfant terrible to make major changes in his life. "You begin to see that the things you thought were important aren't that important," said Lawrence, now 40. "What's important is taking care of you. " Specifically Lawrence realized, "It's not important to me to be out at the clubs partying all the time.

If you're Martin Lawrence these days, you've got to be wondering if it's all worth it. His career long dogged by controversy and contention, the hyperactive funnyman has recently emerged from an extended downward spiral. Following a series of highly publicized personal malfunctions, Lawrence, 34, did some serious self-assessment, re-established his mental/spiritual equilibrium and got his professional life back on track. Having executed a challenging performance in the spring film release "Life" and earning high preview audience marks for the action comedy "Blue Streak," which opens Friday, Lawrence was in understandably positive spirits during an Aug. 8 interview.

Tisha Campbell, singer and star of the new movie Sprung, has a lot to say about Martin. "We just got married Aug. 17," she says of her husband, Duane Martin, a basketball player and actor she met at an audition almost seven years ago. Not that Martin. "The best thing about Martin is that Tichina and I became even closer than we were," says Campbell, referring to her best friend, Tichina Arnold, who played Pam on the Fox sitcom and is Campbell's duet partner on the Sprung sound track.

Martin Lawrence's off-the-set shenanigans won't be Fox's problem anymore. The network yesterday announced that Lawrence's sitcom, "Martin," would end its five-year run in a "star-studded" one-hour season finale May 1. "After five years with the series, I feel it's time to move on," Lawrence said in a statement released by the network. "I want to thank the people at Fox and HBO for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime with 'Martin.' Right now, I'm going to take some time off for myself and then concentrate all my efforts on my film career.

Geez, we thought Martin Lawrence was joking with that "You so crazy" stuff. But at lunchtime Tuesday, L.A. cops found the 30-year-old comedian running through Ventura Boulevard traffic, screaming obscenities and packing a loa-ded semiautomatic. A passer-by told reporters Lawrence was swearing, and yelling, " 'Fight, don't give up, fight the power,' something like that. "The police were really forcefully putting their arms around him and trying to hold him down because he was fighting so much.

In "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate," Martin Lawrence takes on the "Fatal Attraction" theme with a comedic twist. And this time, all parties get what they deserve. Lawrence makes his feature directing debut with this even-handed romantic comedy that takes an unexpectedly serious turn. He stars as Darnell Wright, a player who sees most women as romantic bait. The only women he has any respect for are his mother (Della Reese), his sister (Malinda Williams), and his high school chum Mia (Regina King)

Imagine, if you can, the movie Bad Boys as originally conceived. Imagine two Miami buddies. One is a rich kid, a womanizer, a flamboyant dresser who drives a sleek black Porsche. The other, a solid if jumpy and angst-ridden family man. Both are cops. But these cops crack jokes more often than they crack heads. Imagine Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz as the cops. Hard to imagine, huh, Martin Lawrence? "Yeah, that would be a different movie," Lawrence says, laughing.

The reason we are over "Martin" is basically an ego thing. His. We loved Martin Lawrence when he first hit Fox, playing the I'm-so-crazy homeboy whose bark was always bigger than his bite, and whose foot was usually planted in his mouth as a result of some macho faux pas. Working his way up in the talk-radio business, he adored his girl, Gina, and she loved him right back - even though she made three times the money he did, drove a better...