The Tuxedo (2002)

By the early 2000s, Jackie Chan had spent the better part of a decade attempting to crack the Hollywood mainstream, with varying degrees of success. Rumble in the Bronx had introduced Western audiences to his brand of acrobatic, stunt-heavy comedy action, and the Rush Hour franchise had turned him into a genuine box office draw in the States. The Tuxedo, released in 2002 through DreamWorks Pictures and distributed by Paramount, arrived on the back of that goodwill, hoping to spin Chan's likeable screen presence into a new kind of franchise. The premise is a fairly breezy spy-comedy conceit: a cab driver turned chauffeur accidentally ends up in possession of a high-tech suit belonging to his employer, a suave millionaire secret agent, and finds himself reluctantly pressed into field work. It sits somewhere between James Bond parody and Saturday morning cartoon, with a science-fiction twist involving a villainous plot to contaminate the world's water supply. The film clocks in at 99 minutes, which at least suggests nobody overstayed their welcome.

Behind the camera is Kevin Donovan, a director whose background was largely in television commercials and music videos before this feature. It was, by any measure, a significant step up in scale, and the production carries the polished but unremarkable look you might expect from a studio picture assembled more by committee than by creative vision. The script leans heavily on the gadgetry of the tuxedo itself to generate spectacle, which unfortunately means a fair portion of the action is driven by digital effects rather than the kind of physical, human choreography that had defined Chan's career in Hong Kong. For fans who had followed his earlier work, including Gorgeous and the films before it, that shift in approach was always going to be a point of contention.

Chan heads the cast as Jimmy Tong, playing the familiar fish-out-of-water role he had refined across several Hollywood productions by this point. Opposite him is Jennifer Love Hewitt as a rookie intelligence agent, with Jason Isaacs taking on the role of the suave Devlin, Debi Mazar in support, and Ritchie Coster as the chief antagonist. Isaacs, who had already shown considerable range in other work by this stage, is given relatively little to do here beyond establishing the tuxedo's importance before the plot moves on without him. The ensemble is capable enough on paper, and there is a certain easy charm to the central pairing, though how well it all clicks together in practice is very much the question. For a broader sense of how Chan fares when the surrounding material lets him down, it is worth glancing at the site's take on Skiptrace, another of his films reviewed here.

The Tuxedo is one of those late-career Jackie Chan Hollywood outings that feels like it should’ve worked but ends up falling flat, more Mr. Nanny than Rush Hour. It’s slapstick spy nonsense: parkour in loafers, dance-fighting villains, and a lot of awkward CGI replacing what should’ve been real stunts. Chan still brings his charm and physicality, and there are flashes of the old magic, especially in the quieter, more inventive gags where his timing shines. But the film surrounds him with a tired plot, forgettable villains, and a bizarre sci-fi premise that undercuts everything that makes his action style special. This isn’t about clever choreography or daring falls; it’s about cartoonish powers and green-screen silliness. And Jennifer Love Hewitt, while game, doesn’t quite land as the straight-faced partner-in-spying. It’s not awful, there are a few laughs, and Chan never phones it in, but compared to his best Hollywood work (Rush Hour), this one feels like a step down. It lacks stakes, originality, and most importantly, real martial arts. Watchable if you’re half-asleep on a plane, but otherwise, skip the tux and stick to the classics. One of his weaker Hollywood turns, no doubt.

I keep coming back to that central frustration: when you watch something like Hand of Death, a film from much earlier in his career also covered on this site, you are reminded just how much Chan's appeal has always rested on the physical reality of what he puts on screen, the genuine risk, the invention, the sheer craft of the movement. When you replace that with green-screen gymnastics and a glowing suit, you are not making a Jackie Chan film anymore, you are making a film that happens to have Jackie Chan in it. That is a meaningful difference, and The Tuxedo never quite reckons with it. Fun enough for a rainy afternoon with low expectations, but not one I will be rushing back to.

Rating: ★★  | Year: 2002  | Watched: 2025-09-15

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for The Tuxedo (2002) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Paramount Plus · Now TV Cinema · Paramount+ Amazon Channel · Paramount Plus Premium
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · Sky Store
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: fuboTV · Paramount Plus Premium · Paramount Plus Essential · Paramount+ Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More with Jackie Chan: Hand of Death (1976) · Rumble in the Bronx (1995) · Skiptrace (2016) · Gorgeous (1999)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)