"what the problem is" is racism

What are you hoping to accomplish?

Actually, I think the movie is pretty racist, but in a different way -- you've got Lawrence's character taking advantage of a situation that many black people actually DO face (racial profiling, police brutality) and turning it into some sort of joke. It's almost like crying wolf -- because Lawrence's character is lying about being brutalized, it takes away the authenticity of other cases of police brutality. Yeah, I know it's a movie and all, but a lot of people get the real world and movies mixed up -- particularly if the movie is telling them what they want to hear ("Oh, those black people are really overreacting about this police brutality/racism thing! Just look at Martin Lawrence in 'National Security!'"). Maybe if Steve Zahn's character actually were a racist or there were other cops in the movie who had some racist tendencies I wouldn't be as bothered. In fact, if Zahn's character were a Klansman or something, the movie might have turned out a lot better. Think of the comedic possibilities (OK, maybe not).
I'm not bothered by the "reverse racism" of Lawrence's character -- let's face it, there are a fair share of racist cops out there (probably in the same proportion as racists in the general population, to be fair).
Still, I thought it was funny in (very few) parts, but not a film I'd wanna see again.

There is a difference in comedy between racial jokes and comedy. As a white person, i enjoy white racial jokes by black comedians. I also enjoy Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence movies, and this movie was horrible. I was disappointed at this movie and I had no expectations in the beginning. But there is a difference between jokes on how uncool white people are, or even the Wayans Bros jokes on white people, and the blatant racism of Martin Lawrence's character. The statement "interracial relationships are only bad if the guy is white" has no humour to it. I hope Martin Lawrence does not agree with these horrible opinions, but he did advertise this garbage to the public and set a pathetic example. To add to it, recall the beginning when it started with Lawrence seemingly break into his car: he should have had to show his liscense and registration to the cop, all things aside. Situations like that with only white people involved are the exact same, and everyone should respect a cop. Calling a cop a "f*&%ing pig" to his face is a crime, deal with it. This was a sad movie and a sad day in racial relations. Please leave the reverse racism out of movies and stick to comedy.

I think Dumbsweater makes a strong point.

Racism is defined as descrimination based on race, *not* the descrimination towards other races by white people. In other words, Martin Lawrence (and many other black comedians) making a movie that continuously makes white jokes is just as bad as a white actor making an entire movie that is nothing but jokes at the expense of blacks. Can you imagine a movie by a white man that was nothing but black racial slurs? The protests and outrage would be incredible - from all sides of the fence. I don't think that many would support a movie of this sort.

In an age when we are so focused on moving away from racism, movies like this are a real step backwards. Is it really necessary to constantly make jokes and point out that race issue? Okay, racial profiling and other issues along this line ARE a present issue in the world today, (although I think races from the Middle East have more to worry about than blacks in this post September 11th era). Are movies like this really the answer though? What do they accomplish? All they do is attempt to widen a divide which has actually become much less of a problem in the past centuries, and is still shrinking if you think about it.

Getting past the offensiveness of these jokes and movies, wouldn't they have gotten old by now, even -if- they were funny in the beginning? Honestly, if they were the underlying theme of a movie that would still be a problem, but at least there would be something else to change the focus a bit. But, all of the movies that go along with the race theme are NOTHING BUT racial jokes - nothing. Every minute of the movies seems to be "you're black and I'm white, isn't that funny?" Take that movie out and put in the next one and it's the exact same thing, except perhaps with a different setting.

I've seen better plot twists in pornos.

give me a break. You get all bent out of shape when a black man tells it how it is. But when a white person talks about another race its perfectly fine. Its just a movie for crying outloud. And for your information im neither white or black. And we will leave it like that because it does not matter.

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OK...MAYBE I WAS A LITTLE HARSH BEFORE, I MEAN YES THERE ARE ALOT OF RACIST JOKES IN THIS FLICK...I HATE RACISM...IT'S JUST CRUEL...BUT I DUNNO...I GO TO A MOVIE TO MAKE ME LAUGH...MAYBE IM JUST THE CRUEL ONE WHO'S ACTUALLY LAUGHING AT THESE JOKES...