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Review by Dustin Putman
2 stars out of 4
In his past American films, Jackie Chan has been paired with Chris
Tucker in "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2," and Owen Wilson in "Shanghai
Noon." In "The Tuxedo," a goofy action-comedy directed by first-timer
Kevin Donovan, Chan is partnered alongside the young and curvaceous
Jennifer Love Hewitt (2001's "Heartbreakers"). Such an unlikely pairing
may, at first, seem just a little out-of-place, but Chan and Hewitt
surprisingly make an amiable team who elicit what fun there is to
be had in such a preposterous, insignificant trifle of a movie.
Forgoing his characters' usually keen martial arts abilities, Chan
stars as shy cab driver Jimmy Tong. When he is hired by the straightforward
Steena (Debi Mazar) to act as chauffeur for secret agent Clark Devlin
(Jason Isaacs), Jimmy giddily accepts. When Clark, who is investigating
a conspiracy by megalomaniac Diedrich Banning (Ritchie Coster) to
poison the world's water supply, is severely injured, Jimmy finds
himself taking over the identity of Clark. He is aided in his quest
to stop Banning's plan by a technologically enhanced tuxedo and a
sassy partner, CSA rookie Del Blaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt).
"The Tuxedo" is one-half oddball fantasy concoction and one-half conventional
action flick. The twist is that the usually skilled Jackie Chan here
gets to play someone who only becomes a butt-kicking hero when he
wears the tuxedo. "The Tuxedo" has some undeniable entertainment value,
particularly involving the tricks that the suit always has up its
sleeve, and several hearty moments of good-natured humor. Chan is
charming--maybe even more than usual--and Jennifer Love Hewitt displays
energy and a tangibly effective sense of comedic timing. It wouldn't
hurt her to increase her eating habits a little, and I don't believe
she could ever pass for the bookish type she is supposed to be playing,
but she really is quite good, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Chan and Hewitt are let down by a screenplay (credited
to Michael J. Wilson and Michael Leeson) that is has no real substance
to speak of, and even less in the way of comprehensibility. Since
the movie is probably not supposed to be taken seriously, that lays
off some of the burden, but the specifics of the premise are so utterly
ridiculous and underdeveloped that it comes off as an afterthought.
"The Tuxedo" offers marginal enjoyment for its 97 minutes (which go
by so fast, by the way, the film comes off as if it's missing a middle
act), but just as Jimmy Tong's fighting abilities vanish when he takes
off the suit, so does the movie from the viewer's mind once the end
credits have rolled. The action scenes are nothing to write home about,
so what we virtually have are a string of comic setpieces without
anywhere worthwhile to take them. Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt
are appealing performers, both together and apart. If they ever co-star
with each other again someday, let's hope there is a screenplay to
go along with their hard work.
Copyright © 2002 Dustin Putman
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out of 4
