Tuxedo, The (2002)

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jennifer Love Hewitt
Director: Kevin Donovan

Rating: PG-13

Studio: DreamWorks SKG

Review Posted: 9.26.02

Spoilers: Minor

Rating: 1/4

By Sara M. Fetters.

"All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go"

Let me get this out of the way early so people don’t start throwing stones at me – I like Jackie Chan. I think he is immensely talented. While the quality of his films has varied, even in the worst of them there has still been that one moment that made me smile, if not outright laugh.

And even then, his movies always can be counted to on to showcase at least one spectacular fight or chase sequence. A singular moment where Jackie contorts his body like vintage Buster Keaton crossed with the spirit of Bruce Lee. Something that just makes you go “wow!” and look on with awe.

Granted, those moments have been getting fewer and fewer as Chan has aged and moved into Hollywood filmmaking. The Rush Hour films and Shanghai Noon got by more on Chan’s chemistry with Chris Tucker and Owen Wilson then they did on anything else, and the explosive theatrics of previous Chan films has gotten more and more rote each time.

But none of those films has been an outright stinker. The Tuxedo is.

Delayed more than once from the release schedule, it’s easy to see why DreamWorks doesn’t nave much faith in this pairing of Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Granted, whoever signed off on that in the first place should probably have had their head examined. Even better, the executive who thought this screenplay was blockbuster material should be fired.

I’m not going to waste time talking about the plot (big expensive tuxedo with super powers ends up on Jackie Chan’s body, bad guys try to steal it) for there really isn’t one worth going in to. Chan looks bored and sleep walks through it all, allowing Love Hewitt the movie’s only funny line. For the (hopefully) few of you who see the movie, I won’t ruin it for you here. Just realize it comes early in The Tuxedo’s running time and it is all downhill from there.

The Tuxedo is all dressed up, sure, but the party is well over before the opening credits get a chance to finish their crawl.

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