Date: Fri 25-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Rush-Hour-Chan-Tucker-Playing

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: Jackie Chan's Latest Film Works, Even With The High-Pitched Chris

Tucker

By Trey Paul Alexander III

It does not bode well for an actor when one's introduction to him is in a part

that is so abrasive it ruins the balance of the film in which he co-stars.

That was my experience with Chris Tucker. The movie was Luc Bresson's

futuristic The Fifth Element and the role was a preening, high-pitched DJ

named Ruby Rhod. Tucker was so eardrum-piercingly loud as this character that

he flat out wrecked what was an otherwise engaging and cleverly conceived

picture. It's safe to say Tucker was not one of my favorite actors.

Along comes Rush Hour , the latest variation on the mismatched-cops-as-buddies

genre, and quite surprisingly a number of box office records fall. The film,

which opened last weekend, scored the biggest opening in the history of New

Line Cinema, its distributor, and went on to topple all opening weekend

records in Hollywood history for the months of August, September and October.

Is Tucker a burgeoning big screen star? Maybe. But his hyper-active mouth and

high-pitched wail can still be grating to the nerves.

Tucker's balancing force, and indeed the saving grace of Rush Hour , is Jackie

Chan, who brings an equal amount of kinetic physicality to match with Tucker's

frenetic comic sensibilities. It's a surprisingly keen mix that makes the

always amiable Tucker more accessible to a mainstream audience and helps

Tucker emerge as a potentially viable leading man.

Tucker is appropriately cast as Carter, a self-centered, egotistical LAPD

detective who ignores orders and whose high opinion of himself is matched only

by his peers' disregard and low estimation of his character. After his

involvement in an incident that could warrant suspicion, Carter draws an

assignment meant as a punishment: he is rented out to the FBI to keep watch

over visiting Hong Kong agent Lee (Chan), a police inspector who wants to

assist the Feds in a kidnapping case involving a Chinese consul's young

daughter.

The FBI wants nothing to do with either man, thinking they will only

complicate matters for their investigation. Yet both are motivated to find the

girl and bring her back alive. Carter wants respect and the glory of front

page headlines, while Lee seeks only to return his young, former charge to her

despairing father and win the honor of a job well done.

Rush Hour will not tax anyone's intellect, but it moves along breezily enough

and is fairly entertaining. It's loaded with the usual bantering between the

leads, who spend the first half of the film butting heads over who's in

charge. Unfortunately, some of Carter's comments are borderline racist,

including some stale Chinese stereotypes and lame jabs at the expense of Lee.

Yet thanks to the aplomb of Chan, who takes quite well to the role of straight

man to Tucker's showboating, it rolls off his back and ours. It also helps

that the script clearly paints Lee as the smarter and more capable of the two,

even though he is the fish out of water trying to navigate his way through Los

Angeles and its quirks.

Ultimately, despite some ubiquitous four-letter works and the occasional

off-color remark, Rush Hour presents a likable buddy cop duo who may find

themselves returning to the screen for a sequel. The film's financial success

should make that an inevitability, and the producers seem to have been

thinking ahead, ending with a finale that suggests a follow-up. They also

smartly close the film by following a Chan tradition: rolling the credits

while showing various bloopers from the picture's production. Many are a riot,

including a clip of Chan chiding his co-star when he unsuccessfully attempts

to speak Chinese.

Rush Hour is rated PG-13 for violence and crude language.