National Security (2003)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers (WGA):

Jay Scherick (written by) &
David Ronn (written by)

Release Date:

17 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

They only look like cops.

Plot:

Two mismatched security guards are thrown together to bust a smuggling operation.

Plot Keywords:

Security Guard | Shot In The Butt | Keys Locked In Car | Strip Search | Machine Gun

Cast

Martin Lawrence	...	Earl Montgomery
Steve Zahn	...	Hank Rafferty
Colm Feore	...	Detective Frank McDuff
Bill Duke	...	Lieutenant Washington
Eric Roberts	...	Nash
Timothy Busfield	...	Charlie Reed
Robinne Lee	...	Denise
Matt McCoy	...	Robert Barton
Brett Cullen	...	Heston
Cleo King	...	Woman in Car
Gerry Del Sol	...	Booking Clerk
Ken Lerner	...	Hank's Lawyer
Mari Morrow	...	Lola
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Billy Narthax
Joe Flaherty	...	Owen Fergus

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sensuality.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Malaysia:18PL | Hungary:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38105) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Fire Station 23 - 225 E. 5th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

More than 400,000 bottles of soft drinks and beer were used as background scenery, during the shootout in the warehouse.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the police car slams through the billboard and comes crashing to the ground, the rim falls off of the police car. Then when it is shown later on, the rim is back on the car.

Quotes:

Nash: I thought I shot you. You must be one tough monkey.
Earl: [laughs] You and the monkey jokes, huh? Didn't your momma teach you any manners while you were humpin' her?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Pretty painful overall, but has it's moments

This movie could have worked if Martin Lawrence wasn't so goofy and over the top. He was just flat out annoying in this movie. Maybe the writing was so poor that this is the only way for him to play the character, or maybe he had too much artistic license and the director was too sheepish to keep him in line. Whatever the case, the movie isn't a total loss, but you know you have a bomb on your hands when your two year old likes this seemingly adult-oriented movie more than his father did.