Robbins and Lawrence break even in new buddy comedy

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo Courtesy Touchstone Pictures Co. In the new comedy "Nothing to Lose," directed and written by Steve Odekerk, T. Paul (Martin Lawrence, left) and Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) play an inept carjacker and an ad executive, respectively, as they try to wreck havoc on Beam's boss.

For on-the-edge advertising executive Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) it's just that kind of day. So when the fast-talking T. Paul ( Martin Lawrence) tries to take his Yukon truck, Nick goes wacky and takes T. on a out-of-control ride through the streets of L.A. in the very funny "Nothing to Lose," directed and written by Steve Odekerk.

Odekerk, a former stand-up comic, created an array of spontaneous and unexpected adventures for the two strangers, including T. Paul's gas station robbery in Arizona that leads to an encounter with two hard-core criminals who take offense to Nick and T. making a hit on their turf.

But through all the slapstick fun, the two put all differences aside and team up to make the one score that will change their messed up lives.

The duo of Lawrence and Robbins actually worked fairly well, but is far from such great screen teaming as Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in "48 hours."

A heavy emphasis is placed on the fact Nick is white and relatively well off, while T. is black and jobless. Nick tells T. to stop robbing and start looking for a job. T. replies, "Don't judge me man."

Later Nick realizes that T. is a good guy with a family and was only acting in a desperate manner, much like himself.

The movie uses a lot of racial jokes to examine our multicultural society. The audience knows the two have become friends when T. stops calling Nick "whitie" and says, "Come on, nigga, let's go."

Many of the jokes are funny, but heartfelt moments like Nick trying to find a job for T., won't exactly bring about any tears.

Overall, the movie was pretty funny and entertaining but lacked any memorable qualities. However, unlike most flicks this summer, the only explosions in the movie were bursts of laughter from the audience. Not a single scene relied on special effects. Basically, its got a pretty solid script, which is a refreshing change among recent throw-a-few-one-liners between 10,000 explosions Hollywood crapola.

To ensure you have nothing to lose, I suggest waiting a few weeks until "Nothing to Lose" comes out on pay-per-view.