The Tuxedo

DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: September 27, 2002

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

30	METASCORE Generally unfavorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Jonathan Curiel

Marks Chan's full arrival as an actor. Take away the violence - - and there's plenty of it for those who crave Chan's physical pyrotechnics -- and he's still an immense pleasure to watch onscreen. Read full review

Wesley Morris

The jokes are as fresh as rotten eggs and the direction stoops to the occasion. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Chan is still able to project the boyishness and insecurity of the new kid on the block. But even those aren't enough to make Tuxedo a black-tie affair. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Chan needs a foil, and Hewitt, while perky, doesn't project nearly enough comedy weight; she's too slight and tailored for his style. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

A breakthrough for karate comedy king Chan, but not necessarily the kind we've all been waiting and hoping for. It's an ultra-digitized DreamWorks show crammed with elaborate special effects, the kind that physical-stunt specialist Chan has always avoided. Read full review

James Berardinelli

You know you're in trouble when 50% of the running length is devoted to plot exposition, and the movie still doesn't make any sense. Read full review

Carrie Rickey

It's a fun gimmick -- the sartorial equivalent of those red shoes in the fairy tale that made an ordinary girl dance like Terpsichore -- if not an altogether fun movie. Read full review

Roger Moore

If it weren't for a few genuine Chan novelties and the presence of the goofy Jennifer Love Hewitt, this much-delayed and re-edited mess would be a total loss.

Kim Morgan

In The Tuxedo, ridiculously, Chan's just a suit. A suit walking Jennifer Love Hewitt's breasts around. Chan deserves better.

William Arnold

This ill-fitting Tuxedo is strictly off-the-rack. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

Feather-light and proudly goofy, this Jackie Chan action comedy appears to be aimed squarely at under-12s. Read full review

A.O. Scott

May have been tailored just for Mr. Chan, but it still feels like off-the-rack garb. And by now, Mr. Chan deserves much better than a hand-me-down suit that smells like a rental. Read full review

Robert Koehler

This bad idea is then underlined by pallid direction from tyro helmer and TV ad vet Kevin Donovan, a virtually incomprehensible plot line and a less-than-satisfying co-starring turn from Jennifer Love Hewitt. Read full review

Charles Taylor

Jackie Chan is thoroughly wasted in a bad suit and a witless comedy. Read full review

Roger Ebert

The movie is silly beyond comprehension, and even if it weren't silly, it would still be beyond comprehension. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

The material in this spy spoof is, pardon the pun, awfully frayed. Read full review

Ed Park

The only possible surprise in The Tuxedo would be an extended demonstration of what was once Chan's trademark, the daffily choreographed kineticism forbidden of late by either his own age or the scruples of story editors. Read full review

Nathan Rabin

A frenetic, busy, expensive machine that looks good but runs on autopilot. Read full review

Desson Thomson

This movie is about the worst thing Chan has done in the United States. Read full review

Ernest Hardy

The film is ultimately more labored than inspired. A cameo by James Brown is amusing, but it can't keep The Tuxedo from earning the distinction of being Chan's worst Hollywood film to date. Read full review

Ray Conlogue

It's a comic-book idea that might have been fun. But it's beyond the reach of first-time feature director Kevin Donovan, who squanders his main asset, Jackie Chan, and fumbles the vital action sequences. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Who writes this stuff, anyway? Does this not sound like utter gibberish? Surely, this film did not actually get made, did it? Yes, it did. I have seen it. But you, oh, fortunate one, don't have to. Consider yourself lucky. Read full review

Jami Bernard

Jackie Chan finally has met his match, an opponent so deadly that none of his considerable talent or charm can fight it -- a bad movie Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

In a truly terrible action adventure called The Tuxedo, a high-tech monkey suit turns Jackie Chan into an all-powerful cyborg, and will turn you into a boredborg.

Bill Stamets

Inept script delivers a series of juvenile gags. Read full review

Stephen Hunter

The result isn't merely ludicrous, it's something far worse. It's drab. It's uninteresting. It squanders Chan's uniqueness; it could even be said to squander Jennifer Love Hewitt!

Marc Savlov

Most indicative of The Tuxedo's mediocrity, however, is the absence of the always entertaining action outtakes that traditionally roll under the end credits of Chan films; here it's all dialogue flubs barely fit for Dick Clark. Read full review