The Tuxedo, directed by Kevin Donovan, is a comedy with very little fighting on the part of the forty-eight-year-old martial artist Jackie Chan. The protagonist is James Tong (played by Jackie Chan), and the main joke is that his pronunciation of “James Tong” sounds like “James Bond.” Hilarity abounds, often slapstick, but there is a plot. Diedrich Banning (played by Ritchie Coster) plans to become rich by greatly increasing sales of his brand of bottled water. (Per ounce, bottled water is more expensive than petroleum, we are correctly informed early in the film.) To increase consumption, Banning is hatching an insect that will enter the water supplies of the world, thereby increasing dehydration and thus an increased demand for water. Secret agent Clark Devlin (played by Jason Isaacs), who at first appears to be the James Bond of the film, is onto the nasty plot but needs to find where the insects are being hatched. However, Banning seeks to eliminate Devlin by bombing his limousine. When the film begins, one of Devlin’s assistants hires James Tong, a daredevil New York City taxicab driver, to be his chauffeur. Soon, the car is bombed, Devlin is hospitalized in critical condition, and he asks Tong to carry on with the mission. When Tong puts on Devlin’s special tuxedo, he acquires extraordinary powers of various sorts, from breakdancing to speedily assembling a rifle. The following day, Tong gets a telephone call from Del Blaine (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has been assigned as his partner in the quest to stop Banning. Blaine, however, is a novice; she thinks that Tong is Devlin. Nevertheless, she has instructions on where to go, who to see, and what to do. Tong tags along at first, but soon takes charge of the assignment. The outcome is predictable, but the film is exciting because of the crazy means to the end. Of course, the best part consists of the outtakes, which mostly feature Jennifer Love Hewitt cracking up at expressions on Jackie Chan’s cherubic face. MH