The Tuxedo
| Year: | 2002 |
| Director: | Kevin Donovan |
| Cast: | Jackie Chan, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Peter Stormare, Bob Balaban, James Brown |
Not quite as corny and predictable as it looked. For one thing, it didn't have a postage stamp-sized premise, but seemed to have a few different themes running concurrently.
It was hard to tell if that made it confusing because there were too many ideas, or if it was hard to digest having suspended brain activity in anticipation of a purely escapist action comedy.
A taxi driver, Jimmy Tong (Chan) gets the chance to be the driver for a millionaire playboy who turns out to be working for a top secret government agency investigating a plot to poison the world's water supply.
When he's injured, Tong (with no idea what he's involved in) takes his place, donning his boss' forbidden tuxedo (a super-weapon that reads nerve cells and adorns the wearer with superhero-like powers).
Teamed with beautiful agency lab worker getting her first chance at field work Del (Love Hewitt), predictable hijinks do occur, but the plot unfolds in such a way as to actually keep you interested, not just waiting for the next trademark Chan fight scene (of which there are few).
The real surprise is Love Hewitt. Whether it's her experience giving her some credibility, but she plays the first female lead part in ages that genuinely isn't a gorgeous accessory for the hero. Her acting is really natural and she doesn't appear afraid of making fun of herself.
Either way, you can see the difference between her and the usual crop of MTA starlets that populate young female roles in Hollywood movies.
Other than a few quality quirks, not far from what you'd expect, however.
It was hard to tell if that made it confusing because there were too many ideas, or if it was hard to digest having suspended brain activity in anticipation of a purely escapist action comedy.
A taxi driver, Jimmy Tong (Chan) gets the chance to be the driver for a millionaire playboy who turns out to be working for a top secret government agency investigating a plot to poison the world's water supply.
When he's injured, Tong (with no idea what he's involved in) takes his place, donning his boss' forbidden tuxedo (a super-weapon that reads nerve cells and adorns the wearer with superhero-like powers).
Teamed with beautiful agency lab worker getting her first chance at field work Del (Love Hewitt), predictable hijinks do occur, but the plot unfolds in such a way as to actually keep you interested, not just waiting for the next trademark Chan fight scene (of which there are few).
The real surprise is Love Hewitt. Whether it's her experience giving her some credibility, but she plays the first female lead part in ages that genuinely isn't a gorgeous accessory for the hero. Her acting is really natural and she doesn't appear afraid of making fun of herself.
Either way, you can see the difference between her and the usual crop of MTA starlets that populate young female roles in Hollywood movies.
Other than a few quality quirks, not far from what you'd expect, however.