Rush Hour 2

I liked this movie. I went into it determined to enjoy it, and I did. I have to admit it: I think Chris Tucker is pretty funny. All he has to do is say "DAMN!", and I'll enjoy it. Ebert got quite hot and bothered concerning a scene in which Carter starts a racially charaged discussion (well, if you want to call it that) in a casino. What Ebert seems to be missing is that Carter (Tucker's character) is simply creating a diversion, as he told Lee (Chan's character) he would...

...in fact, I found it very obvious from the way things were said that Tucker's character was not serious about what he was saying. We're supposed to disagree with him -- it's made obvious that he's looking for something to be upset about, to help Lee out. Nothing more.

Anyway, the movie was funny. Could have been funnier, but a few of the lines were quite clever. Check your racially-tinted glasses at the door (no matter who you are), and you'll enjoy yourself quite a bit. Keep your eyes open, as well, because a few of the fight scenes are very impressive. Oh, and be sure to ignore the plot -- it doesn't really matter.

This movie is incredibly stupid. The fight scenes are typical Chan stuff, nothing special, and Chris Tucker is the most annoying screen prescence I've ever encountered in a movie theater, witht the possible exception of the little girl in Remember the Titans.

I dislike how the movie makes no effort to label Tucker as the ignorant moron that he is, and nods along willingly as he blames Chan, the Asian, for situations that he caused in the first place. And no matter what the writer, Tucker, the director, or even Chan thinks, this is unacceptable. Tucker is clearly an idiot, but the movie just goes along with the idea that he's a hero, and the "funny" half of the duo. But I'm sorry, I cannot like a character who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The movie hides behind the veil of comedy when things get out of hand, and doesn't even attempt to acknowledge that some of the things that are said in the film are completely inappropriate and unfunny.

That said, I liked Chan's fight scenes (I always do), and the outtakes at the end were great. And I admire Chan for playing the straight man to Tucker's wildly unfunny antics. As a result of that, Chan gets most of the laughs in the movie.

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Erm, I hope you mean "Carter" when you say "Tucker" -- I'm getting the feeling that you think Chris Tucker, the actual person (and not the character he plays) is really like that. If you've seen him in any interviews, you'd know he doesn't talk with that attitude.

Besides, his character is ignorant: this is made obvious in the movie. Ignorant people can be funny. When he goes off into his racially charged speech in the casino, we're SUPPOSE to find it ridiculous. It IS ridiculous. Carter's character isn't even really offended.

Anyway, say what you will...but no matter what, it must be said that Tucker does a mean Michael Jackson. The "Ch'mon!" part was hilarious...and I don't even know why. It just was.

The funniest part of this movie were the out-takes. Nothing really made me laugh except for a couple of chuckles here and there. While the movie was playing the funniest thing to happen was when a guy behind me said to a bunch of kids: "I'll smack the p!$$ out of you"
It was so damn unneccesary but still very funny.

You thought she was annoying huh!? She had a screen time of maybe 40 minutes all together. Sure are picky aren't ya Stevie???

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

That girl was really annoying, and for that fact so was the whole movie. Even though it was made by Disney did it have to be so Disney-like. Let's promote racial integration through the game of football. What a great idea! If your going to make a movie about such a serious issue make it a serious movie. As for Rush Hour I still think it was horrible.

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God Bless Mindless Self Indulgence

You know, TWT, I'm not sure whether Chris Tucker ISN'T playing himself in that movie. I've only seen him in a handful of movies, and he's always been the same character, with the exception of Jackie Brown, where he just plays a toned down version of that person. In Money Talks, he played essentially the same character, with the same verbal facility and the same mannerisms...Right now I think he's a bit of a one-trick pony. He sure as hell didn't deserve the $20 million he got for this movie, because it was his fault and his fault alone that this wasn't even a good popcorn movie.

But now that I think about it, he WAS rather good for his 5 minutes in Jackie Brown. It doesn't make his career though.

And yes, Remember the Titans blew. It had its moments, but nothing we haven't seen before.

Oh c'mon -- he's typecast. Big deal. Being typecast does not mean you really are like the people you play. Case in point: Lisa Kudrow usually plays someone ditzy, or sometimes even a bit stupid, yet she's actually a genius. Based on the interviews I've seen involving Chan and Tucker (talking about this movie), Tucker does not talk that way at all -- he seemed much more relaxed/toned down.

And hey, the movie made over $66 million it's opening weekend: he was definitely worth the $20 million.

Yeah, but it cost $80 million. And Tucker isn't really typecast, he just hasn't displayed any of these phenomenal talents I hear people talking about him having.

In interviews, he is a very cool guy, much more laid back, but that's probably because he's got a bankroll the size of Bolivia these days. For doing the same schtick over and over.

Actually it cost $90 million.

Yes, he IS typecast. He's a loud talking guy who says "DAMN!" a lot. He's goofy and a bit ignorant in most of his roles. Anyway, my point here is that there's no good reason (not even close, really) to assume that he's like his character in the movies. Oh, and having a lot of money isn't really a good reason as to why he'd be more laid back offscreen. All I said was that he obviously isn't like that in real life.

I think Tuckers a cool guy, from interviews and such. And I liked him in the Fifth Element.

And I absolutely loathed that little girl in Titans!!!

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Saw it today. I feel asleep.

I think Steve N has some issues or something. What does Chan being Asian have anything to do with the portrayal of his character in this movie? You seem to be implying that Chan, "the Asian", is being victimized by Tucker, "the ignorant moron", because he is Asian. This is a friggin comedy dude. Chan is a much bigger star around the world than Tucker will ever be. Your racist insinuation is just lame.

Here is a great question for you Steve, if Tucker is that annoying to you why'd you go see the film in the first place? This is after all a sequel. Anyone who is a fan of film and has a brain had to know what would be in this film.

How can you deffend this movie? It's crap. I have alot of tolerance for movies, and like almost any movie, but this was flat out s**t.

I'm going to have to agree with Steve on this one. Tuckers character is unbelievably annoying. He screws up everything, then blames Chan. What kind of crap is that? It's not funny. The two have no onscreen chemistry. It's just Chan doing his stuff, while Tucker's character bumbles around making racist jokes. Their not even jokes. Jokes are funny. Everything in the movie was just old, over done stuff. Sequels should have something new in them. The Asian jokes were lame, and even though I'm not Asain, I found them insulting. Carter says such things as Asians eat dogs, all look the same, and that their language is stupid. That's not comedy. It's not funny at all. How many different movies are going to use that same old think your-saying-something-smart in another language, but then it turns out to be something completely idiotic. The whole movie was very played out.

The plot sucked ***, but thats expected. Those things aside, it still wasn't a great movie. The action was weak. Chan's sequences were good, but not great. Below average for what hes capable of.

I hated it.

Haven't seen it, don't know if I'm going to now. I loved Rush Hour, but I feel that sequels, just as OG- stated, need to have something new and fresh in them or you're just watching recycled crap. Tucker is probably well known for being an annoying SOB, but he puts out a FEW laughs so they think they can give him a major role and him not screw it up. He does better with roles like the one he had on Fifth Element, so what he talked to much, he had a radio show and he had some funky *** clothes on, he was hilarious in that movie. Friday, he was hilarious in that too, when he seems to get big roles he screws it all up tryin to act like he's THE star of the big screen now. If he would just shrink the size of his head back to its normal size then he might be worthy of such roles as he has had in the past.

Carter evidently has a complete lack of respect for Asians, and the film miscalculates by letting HIM, the ignorant American, blame Chan for all of the problems that HE caused, then asks the audience to believe Carter as a plausible hero who's just the "funny guy" of the two. He MAKES Chan's being Asian an issue for everyone in the theater, when it's irrelevant to everything but his lame jokes, which do nothing but exploit Chan's race (and his ignorance). He states his discontent with all things Oriental frequently throughout the movie, and then goes about his business, content to let the dumbed down American audience believe they're just seeing jokes about those stupid Asians, with their weird languages and their funny eyes. I'm sorry, this just isn't funny to me, and I have a problem with it. The filmmakers should know better, or at the least, throw in jokes about Carter's ignorance.

I knew I was going to see a comedy, and I was disappointed. I saw the movie because I felt like it, and it sucked, therefore I'm sharing my opinions on movieforums (constructively, I might add).

I think, for some, maybe the film wasn't clear enough, but I found it plenty clear. It was hilarious, a very good follow-up to the original, though they did overdo it on the stereotypes. But i feel they meant to use that in humor but obviously, others might not like the use of race/culture as a point of humor, period. I think, for acceptance and true open-mindedness, that's a perfectly acceptable thing when the ignorance is the point of the humor, not the actual culture.-

Carter's ridiculous ignorance is the BUTT of the joke. The crudeness of speaking English assuming others do, speaking loudly assuming that will get the point across, rescuing a chicken, waving his money around, he is the living incarnation of a boorish American and because of that HE's the joke. And the movie knows this; and Tucker does too, and he knows he's not THE big star, he knows Chan is slightly bigger and/or his equal (here in America). I think the box office would not be the same without them both.

Anyway, Carter THINKS he's the man, but he isn't. Only because he's the "up" to Chan's "down" and loyal does he fit "hero" material, but the "plot" offers Chan as the true hero - the police officer's son, high ranking Chinese police official. He's the one who does the real work, cracks the case, etc. Carter is only along for comic relief - a sidekick.

I do agree that they beat that theme to death though ... but i think we're supposed to see Chan as long-suffering and the true hero while Carter is just there to laugh at and make Chan feel better.

Plus, Carter's character was built not to be taken seriously. Therefore, neither is the film or anything he does in it. Therefore, neither is the racial humor.

THANK YOU MIRIAM. It's about time someone else "got" this movie. Carter is not being completely glorified, Steve. Carter is ignorant, but he means well. That's the short of things. He's likable because, in the end, he's a good guy, and he enjoys Lee's company. Throw in jokes about his ignorance? What do you think the casino tirade was all about? The whole movie was about his ignorance.

Bull. Anyone who believes that is doing so on their own. The movie does not promote Asians that way at all. The only real Asian we see up close is Chan's character, Lee, who is obvoiusly portrayed very positively, and as a better (albeit more serious) cop than Carter. Lee is the straight man -- if Carter were the straight man, would there be complaints of racists against blacks? The fact that he talks too damn much is a joke in and of itself. We all know he's a bit foolish.

You guys are missing the point of what I'm saying, I think.

It's obvious to all of us that Carter is a foolish and ignorant character. But the movie provides NO argument that it knows this as well. We laugh at his jokes about how he likes Popeyes instead of raw chicken, and since we in America generally don't eat raw chicken, we identify with Carter, and laugh at the silly Asian woman. thmilin, how does the movie show that it knows what Carter's saying is ignorant? Many of the Asian characters he ridicules are shown as fools, foreign to him, the American, therefore foreign to us. It glorifies his ignorance, then hides behind the pedestal of comedy and expects us to laugh. For example, when he says "I never understand what the hell you're saying", the audience doesn't laugh because it's an ignorant comment, they laugh because Chan doesn't have the strongest command of english and Carter is exploiting it.


I don't have a problem with jokes about race (or for that matter, anything else), as long as a movie/comic/song knows where it stands on the subject. This movie lets Tucker say things that exploit stereotypes of Asians, but then it provides no information that shows the filmmakers know he is a fool. Also, whether the movie intends this or not, as the American (however annoying), the audience identifies with him as a foreign man in a foreign land. Everyday Asian life is foreign to the average American; this movie makes no attempt to show that there are Asians that aren't short, that speak english fluently when dealing with Americans, etc etc.

What the? If it's obvious to the viewers, then the movie has made it obvious to us. That's more than enough. If we understand that he's a fool (to a degree), then the movie has shown us that he is a fool. It's that simple.

Don't say "we" all the time, because I didn't laugh at that thinking "what a silly Asian woman."

Um, not to sound rude, but how do you know what the audience is laughing about? You've probably said "the audience is laughing at..." 10 times in your last few posts here -- but how do you know?

Oh, and I'd like you to note that Lee and Carter are both ridiculing each other for the way they talk, because neither of them can talk worth crap. No one is being singled out here, man.

Uh, other than the fact that we all agree the audience seems him as foolish (not a fool, foolish. He's a bit ignorant, but he's not a complete fool). I find it hard to believe that they wrote Carter in a way completely different from the way he was actually perceived by the audience.

So? Does it make a point to show that plenty of Americans are more knowledgable about Asians than Carter? I'm telling you: this movie is not taking sides. Everyone is the butt of someone else's joke.

Besides: part of this was filmed on Hong Kong. Now, if by filming in Hong Kong, they get a lot of footage of short Asians, that's no one's fault. Most Asian people are short, Steve. What are they supposed to do: write in the part of a 6-foot-5 Asian gangster? That'd be unrealistic.