The Tuxedo Starring Jackie Chan, Jennifer Love Hewitt Directed by Kevin Donovan PG-13 for action violence, sexual content and language *3/4 out of 4 Stars, Movie Grade: C

Theatrical Release: September 27, 2002

Running time: 95 minutes

by Kevin Lang

Jackie Chan is back again with another buddy movie. Well, that's if you would call Jennifer Love Hewitt his buddy. "The Tuxedo," directed by Kevin Donovan was another mix of comedy and stunt filled martial arts action starring Jackie Chan. Only this time, the stunts didn't seem as spectacular, and the martial arts weren't quite as dazzling.

The premise of the movie involved a rather interesting concept for world domination (not that I plan on taking up the idea anytime soon). The villain, Diedrich Banning (Ritchie Coster), developed a plan to infect the world's water supply with bacteria that would cause extreme dehydration. Therefore, we would be left with no other option than to drink his company's bottled water. I was learning of this information as I myself sat in the theater drinking an Aquafina. Coincidence? Well, it's not a bad idea if you're evil and want to make billions. Similarly, Microsoft…well, nevermind.

In "The Tuxedo" Jackie Chan played a cab driver named Jimmy Tong who was known for the superior driving skills that he utilized in order to get his fares to their destinations on time. His popularity landed him a job as the chauffeur to a millionaire by the name of Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs) who was really a CSA operative. An attempt on Devlin's life landed him in the hospital, and Jimmy attempted to impersonate him in the meantime. Devlin gave him a watch that was the remote control for his gadget-laden tuxedo. Jimmy tried on the tuxedo, which seemed to fit him perfectly somehow, and then he used it to fight Banning and his plan to take over the world.

One of the biggest problems that I found with the story was that although the relationship and interaction between Jason Isaacs and Jackie Chan was enjoyable to watch, it made up very little of the movie. Clark Devlin showed admiration for Jimmy as they discussed and joked about how to attract the opposite sex. There was something working between them that was missing entirely between Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Hewitt played CSA agent Del Blaine. She was assigned to the case because of her expertise in the area of water. Hewitt seemed to contrast not only Chan, but she seemed out of place in the role. Watching her perform sweeping leg kicks ala her costar didn't quite convince us. Chan had been paired with female leads in the past. My advice would be to rent 1992's "Supercop," featuring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, which offered superb chemistry between Chan and Yeoh.

The action in the film brings up another point of mediocrity. First, it was rather infrequent and second, we've seen much better from Chan. The tuxedo supposedly gave Chan anti-gravity power, which as a result caused some of the action to be done with wires. For Chan, the flying action scenes seemed to downplay what has made him unique. He can impress us without tricks. This is not to say that he was fighting in the air that often in the movie, but even when he was on the ground he seemed to fight at times as if he was hooked to the wires.

"The Tuxedo" was mildly enjoyable at its best moments, and it offered little to savor in the end. Within the story existed the potential for a much better movie, but the filmmakers failed to see it. Why they didn't make a movie about a chauffeur driver who teams up with his boss to fight an evil mastermind I'll never know. Or maybe it was because Jason Isaacs did not resemble the superficially portrayed attractiveness of Jennifer Love Hewitt's character. In any case, the film that was made failed to satisfy us.

"The Tuxedo" Review written September 26, 2002, CTF.

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