MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Tuxedo’ is tired and predictable– Grade C-
Many times, you can tell what a movie will be like by its opening scene. “The Tuxedo” opens with a deer urinating in a river, a portent of things to come.
This film stars the very mismatched Jackie Chan as Jimmy, a taxi-driving coward who can’t talk intelligently to women and hides under cars when in a fight (yeah right!), and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Delilah, a spy in training for the CSA. Chan gets hired as a driver for agent Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs), but when Devlin is hurt by a skateboard bomb, Jimmy must don his technological tuxedo (it makes the wearer capable of doing anything). He then, along with Hewitt, has to go after Deidrich Banning (Ritchie Coster) who is attempting to poison the nation’s water supply.
First of all, who believes Chan is actually a coward and doesn’t know how to fight? And second of all, who possibly dreamed up the idea of screen chemistry between him and Hewitt? Although she was minutely funny in some of her action sequences, she needs to go back to the films that deserve her “talent” – like “Heartbreakers” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” As for Chan, let’s just hope “Shanghai Knights” is a bit better.
If nothing else, the film gives us another reason to poke fun at Hewitt. To this day, I can’t see her on screen without remembering her whining character on “Kids Inc.” Not much has changed. It will be interesting to see how her new singing career will end (notice I said how not when).
The action sequences here were nothing new. Everything from the womanizing spy to the ditzy girlfriend were here in this trite cliché of a spy film. At least “XXX” was a new twist on the super-spy movie. “Tuxedo” came across tired, and I found myself becoming bored watching it. That’s not a good sign for an action comedy, but it’s not like I was really surprised. This time of year is when the movies no one has any faith in get sent to the theaters for their short runs. I guess those involved want to at least earn back their investments in them.
With any luck, this movie will die out quick, although it is likely to become a cult hit on video. My prediction is that guys will go because it is Jackie Chan. And since the public has been duped into accepting movies like this one as valued entertainment, it will probably end up doing quite well. But take my advice – if you must see it, at least wait for the cheap theater. Then it may be worth subjecting yourself to.