The Tuxedo (Widescreen) DVD

Average Rating:

Here, Chan gives us a few impressive fights and stunts, but mostly he plays a character part, in keeping with his new career direction.

Taking the place of his injured super-spy boss, Clark Devlin, Chan takes on the bad guys in Devlin's place. Along the way, he hooks up with another agency spy (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who falls in love with him. The bad guys are planning to corner the world's bottled water supply using a very unlikely method, and Chan must use Devlin's impressive super-spy tuxedo to stop them.

Oh, it was dumb, no question about it. But, regardless, I just plain liked it anyway. There was a lot of slapstick, and for some reason, a lot of non-PC humor. Frankly, it was just plain funny.

Probably the best thing here is the Clark Devlin character. Devlin is the perfect Bond-ish agent; suave, sophisticated, irresistable to women, and super-cool. In fact, it makes one long to see actor Jason Issacs play 007 for real in a new Bond film (sorry, Pierce).

While this would be just fine as a renter, I think you should try to catch it in the theater if possible. Dumb or not, it was a fun movie, and it may be interesting for Chan fans to see a sampling of the new direction the actor/stuntman/martial artist is trying to grow in.

Is it okay to say that I liked this movie a lot, even though it wasn't particularly good? Certainly fans looking for a Jackie Chan all-out action fest along the lines of a Project A or Police Story will be disappointed. Jackie gets the chance to show his stuff, but there are only a few fights, and no catch-your-breath spectacular stunts. This film is more along the lines of Gorgeous or Miracles--although with even less action, I suppose--with comedy and character coming to the forefront. Fortunately, unlike many American action heroes, Chan has the charm and personality to keep the viewer engaged even when he isn't fighting. He convincingly conveys the confusion and befuddlement of an everyman caught up in situations bigger than himself. Ironically, for a movie without a huge amount of action, I was particularly struck by his talent during the action scenes. His body was doing all the incredible things we're used to seeing Jackie Chan do, but his expressions and body language came across perfectly as a man who has lost control of his body.

This is the first time I've seen Jennifer Love Hewitt playing an adult, and while she seemed young, she didn't seem high-school young. She did come across as the sort of character she played: a young scientist, probably just out of school, trying to prove herself in a new situation. She managed to keep her character's snappy, bitchy lines funny, rather than coming across too much like a stereotypical hard-edged tough grrl. In short, she felt human. (It is a shame that she didn't get more action sequences herself.) Her character didn't receive too much depth or development, but that's a criticism I have for this movie across the board. However, for the most part the actors (Hewitt, Chan, Jason Isaacs as Devlin, and Peter Stormare as an evil scientist) make their characters engaging and likeable despite their two-dimensionality.

These sorts of films aren't particularly well-served by overly-complicated plots, and fortunately, this one was fairly straightforward. For the most part, the comic moments came out of the story, although one sequence--Jimmy is forced to fill in for Godfather of Soul James Brown--feels shoehorned in. Unfortunately, while the secret plot is appropriately over-the-top for a film about a super-powered tuxedo, it's played a little too straight. Ritchie Coster, as the villainous mastermind Dietrich Banning, is too dull and straight, and it's almost like he's in a different movie. Director Kevin Donovan might have been better off bringing a more surreal touch to the whole thing, like the Spy Kids movies, where the weirder or wackier elements feel more comfortable because they fit into the overall tone of the film. On the other hand, Peter Stormare, as Banning's scientist sidekick, does keep things from becoming too straight.

This is probably the weakest of Chan's American films. It isn't as mainstream as the Rush Hour movies, and it just plain isn't as good as Shanghai Noon. But I thought it was fun, and I wouldn't mind seeing these characters again, albeit in a better-written, better-directed movie.

THE STORY:

Chan plays Jimmy Tong, an NYC cab driver turned super-spy chauffeur/sidekick. When Tong's boss, super-spy Clark Devlin, goes down, Tong's "Alfred" assumes Devlin's "Batman" role and becomes the unlikely hero trying to stop the insidious plot of an eco-terrorist. Jennifer Love Hewitt co-stars as Chan's partner, new CSA field agent/scientist nerd chick, Del Blaine.

THE COOL STUFF:

Though Chan, self-admittedly, is getting up in age and can't quite pull-off the death-defying stunts he used to, the action in this movie is still enough to make this movie enjoyable though hardcore Chan action fans may be a little disappointed.

With the action not quite as big a focus this movie turns up the notches on the "story" element and the "humor" element. The storyline in this film is definitely more developed than a lot of Chan's older flicks imported from Asia (ie - Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike and Mr. Nice Guy).

The pairing of Chan and Love Hewitt (which sounds like as about as unlikely a couple as you could ever get) is really effective and I enjoyed how they managed to play off each other. They had good chemistry. You ain't seen nothing until you've seen Jennifer Love kicking some bad guy booty (and looking GOOD at the same time).

Tons of special effects (including the now standard "Matrix" FX) abound courtesy of Chan's "Tuxedo" which is the source of his power.

BEST SCENES:

1."The Last Emperor" of Soul including James Brown cameo

2.The bedroom scene

3.Jennifer Love getting all "Kung Fu" on the bad guys. "Yeah!!!"

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

The movie overall is fairly tame with very mild violence but there are a few "gross out" scenes courtesy of some bugs and a few particular gross "death scenes." Overall though, there's nothing that should give you nightmares or upset you.

THE VERDICT:

Overall, some long time Chan fans may feel deprived that the action levels not where you've come to expect it but the action levels still acceptable and nothing to sneeze at. This can safely be chalked up as more "comedy-action" than "action-comedy" which isn't really a bad thing.

Overall, it's still an enjoyable movie to unwind with the gang or your loved one.

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