At the movies - 'The Tuxedo'

Associated Press Writer

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker -- inspired. Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson -- gangbusters. Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt -- huh?

In "The Tuxedo," Chan survives the strangest pairing yet of his lucrative second career in American odd-couple action comedies. But the major revelation is Hewitt, who shines like a supernova.

Alternately pouty and cutesy in "Party of Five" and the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" series, Hewitt uses this unlikely vehicle to grow up in a big way. She fills out a role that's nothing on the page -- a rookie operative in a vaguely defined intelligence agency -- with feisty confidence and improvisational spirit.

All that really matters acting-wise in a movie like this is to make the audience want to watch you. Beauty helps, and Hewitt is no slouch in that department, cheerfully conspiring in the exploitation of her gravity-defying figure.

But more important is an ability to cut loose, to let your guard down and have a smashing time in front of the camera. That's star quality, and Hewitt has it: She looks like there's no place else she'd rather be. Not since Elizabeth Hurley in the first "Austin Powers" movie has an actress sunk her teeth into something so silly and made such magic.

Chan is himself: a brilliant physical performer who's also effortlessly adorable, using light-speed facial muscles to convey emotion with zealous abandon. He and Hewitt bounce off one another, and that's the movie -- purely a vehicle for its stars. "The Tuxedo" would be nothing without them; with them, it's an enjoyable nothing.

The concept is almost too dense to be believed: that Jackie Chan -- Jackie Chan! -- needs a billion-dollar tux to turn into the quicksilver, gravity-defying dervish we know and love.

"The Tuxedo" contradicts its own premise at the outset, when a T-shirt-and-jeans-clad Chan, as cab driver Jimmy Tong, eludes a meathead bicyclist who's slammed into the door of his taxi. It's good to see that Chan can still pull off old-fashioned stunt work, since through the rest of the movie he'll be embellished by cheesy digital effects.

Jimmy's driving skills get him hired as a chauffeur for super-spy Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs), a James Bond figure who tells Jimmy that 90 percent of his charm and confidence comes from his expensive suits. Jimmy soon finds out how true that is, when an injured Devlin instructs Jimmy to put on his precious tux and continue his work.

The villain is a bottled-water baron who's developing a bacterium that causes people to die of thirst. Monkey-suit-clad Jimmy teams up with rookie spy Del Blaine (Hewitt) to stop the evil genius.

A technological marvel, the tux can make its wearer do -- well, anything. When James Brown shows up in a cameo, and Jimmy unintentionally KO's him, it's no worry, because the tux allows Jimmy to sing and dance exactly like James Brown. This sort of thing would be tiresome if not for Chan and Hewitt, who bring good cheer to the lame material.

"The Tuxedo" delights in its silliness: It's a live-action cartoon dedicated to being nothing but. It was shot in Toronto, which many filmmakers use as a cheap stand-in for more distinctive cities. But first-time director Kevin Donovan actually uses Toronto's capacity for urban anonymity in an intelligent way -- the movie takes place in an anonymous, unnamed city. The license plates on the cars read: "Freedom, The Great State."

Donovan has a welcome lightness of touch: He understands that too many details would just bog the movie down. "The Tuxedo" clicks despite the flimsy computer effects, the scattershot action sequences and the murky, muddy cinematography. It runs on charm and human energy, which Chan and Hewitt have in abundance. They're lightning unbottled.

"The Tuxedo," a Dreamworks release, is rated PG-13 for action violence, sexual content and language. Running time: 96 minutes. Three stars (out of four).