The Tuxedo (2002)

Average rating

(57%)

Starring:	Jackie Chan \| Jennifer Love Hewitt \| Jason Isaacs \| Peter Stormare
Director:	Kevin Donovan
Studio:	DREAMWORKS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time:	94 mins
Genres:	Action/Adventure \| Comedy
Languages:	English
Subtitles:	Czech, English, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish
Released:	July 07, 2003

In THE TUXEDO, Jackie Chan stars as Jimmy Tong, a taxi driver who's aggressive behind the wheel, but painfully shy outside of his cab. Jimmy's driving talents garner the attention of a secret organization, and soon he's hired as the chauffeur for the suave, enigmatic agent Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs). However, when Devlin is severely injured in an assassination attempt, Jimmy must don Devlin's suit--which just happens to be a state-of-the-art, two-billion-dollar weapon loaded with special capabilities and gadgets. Paired up with ambitious but inexperienced agent Del Blaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Jimmy must continue Devlin's mission, which involves foiling Dietrich Banning (Ritchie Coster), a power-mad bottled-water mogul.
Kevin Donovan's action-packed comedy gives the talented Chan an unusual opportunity to play a character not adept at martial arts. Of course, once he puts on the tuxedo, he's capable of amazing physical feats, but Chan revels in hamming it up as someone who's literally not in control of his actions. Meanwhile, Hewitt provides catty support, and Isaacs (the villain in THE PATRIOT) makes the most of his good-guy role. A goofy Bond-ish romp, THE TUXEDO also features Debi Mazar as a tough secret agent and Peter Stormare as a nerdy mad scientist.

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Rating of 2 stars out of 5

Energetic action star Jackie Chan usually gives good value, but in this James Bond-style adventure the mechanical gadgets are given precedence over his physical prowess, leaving the martial arts maestro with little to do. Chan plays Jimmy Tong, a chauffeur to millionaire super-spy Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs) whose hospitalisation leads Chan to try on Devlin's hi-tech dinner jacket. Our hero soon finds it imbues him with incredible acrobatic powers that confusingly lead to his involvement in an international espionage plot. Jennifer Love Hewitt, as an inept CIA agent, provides the best comedy moments in the film, otherwise it's just a bunch of special effects, liberally poured on by director Kevin Donovan, that obscure Chan's true gifts — after all, the man practically is a special effect. It may have been made to measure, but this Tuxedo just isn't big enough for him.

Highest rated reviews

7 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
The Tuxedo

designergurl from Tameside, 15th October, 2003

This is an excellent film and I suggest that anybody who enjoyed the rush hour 1 & 2 films will love this. Jackie Chan stars as the movie's main charecter and throughout the film he provides some comical contributions to the movie i.e. when he ''shakes his booty'' after pressing the wrong button on his watch after he dons the tuxedo. Also co-star Jennifer Love-Hewitt is fantastic in this film, especially with her sarcastic charecter. Overall this film is fantastic and I would recommended to everybody.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 2.0 stars
The Tuxedo

SAI81 from from Tonbridge, 2nd December, 2006

Jimmy Tong (Chan) works as a cab driver until one day a passenger offers him a job as driver to super spy Clark Devlin (Isaccs). When Devlin is injured in a bombing Jimmy takees his place, using a tuxedo of Devlin's that confers superpowers on the wearer. Suited up Jimmy and partner Del Blaine (Hewitt) (who, being on her first assignment, thinks he's Devlin) go up against an eeevil bottled water manufacturer (Ritchie Coster) who is planning to poison the world's water supply, leaving only his mineral water safe to drink (muahahahaha). It's not an easy time to be a Jackie Chan fan. His Hong Kong output has been slipping in quality (he's been trying to act, God help us) and his Hollywood films lurch from one embarrassment to the next. This might be the best of his US work to date, I realise of course that that's like saying 'Whaddya know, this sewage smells better than that sewage', but still, small mercies. The Tuxedo is certainly beset with problems. First among them is the prevalence of wire work (not great wire work at that) in the action and stunt sequences. Time was Jackie lived by the words: I am the special effect. But time marches on and this can be put down to age and injury rather than laziness or a lack of ideas on the part of Jackie and his stunt team. The smaller moments are the best, true they've been slightly aided by effects but still the displays of agility, particularly when Jackie has to fight while trying to put his tux back on, are as amazing as ever. Debuting Director Donovan isn't the man for the job. Too often he botches the action particularly in a sequence with the most obvious fake leg ever put to film and his leering fascination with Hewitt's cleavage, magnificent as it may be, makes you wonder if it was an adult or a 13 year old boy behind the camera. However there are bright spots. Chan's having fun, which often seems not to be the case lately, clearly he enjoys the slapstick comedy and, for all the frustrations of working in English, his comic timing and screen presence still win through. Hewitt may be utterly miscast but she makes the best of things and actually puts in a sparky performance that serves the film perfectly well. So it's dumber than you can possibly imagine but there's also fun to be had. There's some hammy cameos from Whose Line Is It Anyway's Colin Mochorie and from Peter Stormare as a mad scientist and just enough of Jackie's trademark action to make it fun. Clearly no masterpiece then, but hardly as mortifying as Shanghai Noon or The Medallion

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