The Tuxedo Information

The Tuxedo is a 2002 American comedy–action film directed by Kevin Donovan and starring Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. It is a spy spoof that involves a special tuxedo that grants its wearer special abilities and a corporate terrorist threatening to poison the United States' fresh water supply with bacteria that spills electrolytes into the blood and totally dehydrates the host.

Plot

Jimmy Tong (Jackie Chan) is a taxi driver notorious for his speed and ability to get his customer anywhere in the least amount of time. His reputation lands him a job as the personal chauffeur of the mysterious but wealthy Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs). Jimmy does not really know what his new boss' job might be, but Devlin's friendly nature, imperturbable demeanor, and willingness to offer Jimmy advice wins Jimmy over and the two become friends. Jimmy has no idea that Devlin is a spy, and when an attempt to kill Devlin with a car bombing sends him into a coma, Jimmy ends up with Devlin's recent case notes and a special watch that controls Devlin's rather unusual tuxedo.

The tuxedo is a gadget capable of granting its wearer special abilities (including martial arts, speed, the ability to dance, and various acrobatics) which Jimmy must use to stop the terrorist group responsible for Devlin's attempted murder. Headed by the notorious Dietrich Banning (Ritchie Coster), the goal of the Banning Corporation is to take over the global drinking water supply, starting with the poisoning of major US reservoirs by means of genetically-modified water strider insects. By pure chance Jimmy is joined by a genius scientist with aspirations of field work, Delilah "Del" Blaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt). Blaine is completely new to field work and is delighted to be on assignment with Devlin, only to be very confused by Jimmy as he impersonates Devlin, relying on the tuxedo's special abilities to compensate for his lack of skill and training.

At first, Blaine thinks Jimmy is weird and annoying, and then a fraud when Jimmy's impersonation is finally exposed. She confiscates his borrowed tuxedo and attempts to stop the evil Dietrich Banning on her own by feigning a desire to become a turncoat for Banning Corporation. Meanwhile Jimmy is ready to give up and go back to his life as a taxi driver, but while packing his belongings he discovers that Devlin had ordered a second tuxedo for Jimmy himself, believing that Jimmy could also be a great agent. Using his own tuxedo, Jimmy defeats the villain, Banning, and his henchmen. In the final scene, he and Blaine admit a tentative attraction for each other and walk away to buy coffee.

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Jimmy Tong
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Del Blaine
• Jason Isaacs as Clark Devlin
• Debi Mazar as Steena
• Ritchie Coster as Dietrich Banning
• Peter Stormare as Dr. Simms
• Mia Cottet as Cheryl
• Romany Malco as Mitch
• Daniel Kash as Rogers
• Jody Racicot as Kells
• Boyd Banks as Vic
• Bob Balaban as Winton Chalmers (uncredited)
• Christian Potenza as CSA Agent Joel
• Scott Wickware as CSA Agent Wallace
• Karen Glave as CSA Agent Randa
• Scott Yaphe as CSA Agent Gabe
• Jordan Madley as Holly
• Paul Bates as Lundeen
• Noah Danby as Bike Messenger
• Colin Mochrie as Gallery Owner
• Kim Roberts as ER Nurse
• Fred Rutherford as Banning Party Bouncer
• Craig Eldridge as Doran
• Ron Gabriel as Frank Rollins
• James Brown as Himself
• Stacey DePass as a Woman in the Park
• Chris Coppola as Bodyguard (uncredited)
• Brad Allan as Bodyguard (uncredited)
• Michael Bunin as Bodyguard (uncredited)
• Paul Anderovski as Bodyguard (uncredited)
• Byron McIntyre as Bodyguard (uncredited)
• Jeanette Roxborough
• John Stoneham Jr.
• Claire Hodgson (extra)

Soundtrack

Initially scored by Christophe Beck, John Debney was brought in to rescore the film (incorporating Beck's thematic material). Both composers ultimately had cues included in the final version.

Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack album on October 1, 2002, including different cues written by the composers for the same scenes. Cues by Debney are in italics, cues by Beck in bold.

1. Jimmy's Tux (2:50)
2. Skateboard Chase (2:00)
3. Mad Bike Messenger (1:04)
4. Jimmy's Dream (:48)
5. Main Title - "The Tuxedo" (3:01)
6. First Mission (2:54)
7. Swallow The Queen (2:25)
8. Demolition (1:20)
9. Putting on Tux (1:59)
10. Demolition Program (1:02)
11. Rope Fight (2:58)
12. Rope Fight (2:14)
13. Superhuman (1:39)
14. Walter Strider (1:21)
15. High Noon (:49)
16. Banning Opens The Pods (2:29)
17. Banning Swallows Queen (:49)
18. Jimmy Saves Blaine (1:50)
19. Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine) - James Brown (3:19)

Release

Box office

On a reported budget of $50 million, the movie grossed $50,547,998 in the United States. In its opening weekend the film grossed a moderate $15 million from 3,022 theaters. The film total worldwide gross is $104,391,623 USD.

Reception

The Tuxedo received negative reviews and the film has been referred to "one of Chan's worst". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times commented that "The movie is silly beyond comprehension, and even if it weren't silly, it would still be beyond comprehension" but does comment that the film has its good moments. He gave the film one and a half stars out of four. Out of 137 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, only 30 were positive, giving the film a "Rotten" score of 22%.