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The tuxedo

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

He's not looking for trouble, he's wearing it.

Cabbie-turned-chauffeur Jimmy Tong (Jackie Chan) learns there is really only one rule when you work for playboy millionaire Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs): never touch Devlin's prized tuxedo. But when Devlin is temporarily put out of commission in an explosive "accident", Jimmy can't resist trying on the tux and soon discovers that this extraordinary suit may be more black belt than black tie. Suddenly thrust into a dangerous world of espionage, paired with Del Blaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt) a rookie partner with even less experienced than he is, Jimmy becomes an unwitting - if impeccably dressed - secret agent.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film action spy martial arts suit comedy stunt

Persons of interest

Jackie Chan .... Jimmy Tong
Jennifer Love Hewitt .... Del Blaine
Jason Isaacs .... Clark Devlin
Ritchie Coster .... Banning
Debi Mazar .... Steena
Larissa Laskin .... Angelica
Boyd Banks .... Vic
Mia Cottet .... Cheryl
Daniel Kash .... Rogers
Peter Stormare .... Doctor Simms
Scott Yaphe .... Gabe
Phil Hay .... Storywriter
Matt Manfredi .... Storywriter
Michael J Wilson .... Storywriter
Michael Leeson .... Screenwriter
Michael J Wilson .... Screenwriter
Kevin Donovan .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The tuxedo official movie site
The tuxedo movie trailers:

Studios and distributors:

Universal Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Jackie Chan's most successful films have always accented his ability to perform martial arts "tricks": primarily the ingenious use of objects that are found to hand. There is always a sense of reality, that if you practise hard enough and long enough you, too, will be able to pull the same stunts in your own back yard. The tuxedo breaks from this mould and uses special effects to wow the audience (that's you) rather than clever ability. It's a mistake; the suit becomes more important than the man who's wearing it.

Sure, it's a nod to the James Bond tradition of clever gadgets but Mr Bond always used those gadgets as extensions of his own cleverness. Jimmy Tong just goes along for the ride. This makes him less successful as a secret agent because it undermines the rules of the spy genre. Jimmy's ordinariness is an attempt to make him more accessible to the public (that's you, too) in the form of "if it can happen to him it could happen to me" - unfortunately it merely stretches the bounds of the imagination. Even with the willing suspension of disbelief (the way that you just accept what's happening on the screen even though you know it isn't real) the suit is too fantastical. James Bond's gizmos are just current technology made smaller, stronger, faster.

The tuxedo is a reasonably entertaining way to pass one and a half hours, but only reasonably.