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READ MORE: Brett Ratner's European Vacation

PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 8/9/07)

What a drag it is getting old. That Rolling Stones sentiment defines the limping spirit of Ratner's latest effort, in great part for its stale comedy but underscored by the sight of the late Ingmar Bergman's regular star Max von Sydow and Oscar-winning auteur Roman Polanski (both septuagenarians) slumming it in trivial roles. Nearly a decade after East met West — or whatever cutesy, culture-clashing buddy taglines hyped 1998's Rush Hour — this action-comedy franchise has grown out-of-shape, outdated, and unwilling to accept its mellowing, like a middle-aged man with his gut sucked in. Not that Hong Kong inspector Lee (Chan) gets winded after each feat of derring-do, but Chan's in his fifties, so there's no hiding that his career-defining agility is now aided by a boost of quicker-take editing. As oversexed LAPD detective James Carter, Tucker has become either rusty or lazy in his squeaky, motor-mouthed outbursts ($20 million paychecks can't help), so much so that his end-credit outtakes — arguably the freshest thing about the series — suddenly come across as scripted "mistakes" filmed out of sad obligation.

Following a quick refresher for the first-timers, the still-unlikely duo spends most of this three-quel in a sort of "Paris for Dummies": all thin moustaches, America-hating cabbies, and Serge Gainsbourg songs culminating in an Eiffel Tower shootout and a French flag used for a parachute. Carter and Lee have arrived on a personal mission to rescue a Chinese ambassador's daughter from Triad goons who want to silence her daddy. Somehow, the conspiracy a-brewin' is connected to Lee's childhood, the World Criminal Court, and a dangerous burlesque dancer–requisite hottie. In hindsight, though, no character's motives or links to the case make much sense at all.

So what business did Rush Hour 2 leave unfinished? Tucker continues to spit out ching-chong, sushi-grade Asian stereotypes as barbs, but pushes things into "oh-no-you-didn't" territory when he cluelessly refers to all Iranians as terrorists. Chan still sounds silly talkin' jive, the action sequences are peppy if not exactly memorable, and the gags have been sitting out long enough to make penicillin. I'm sorry, a "Yoo's on First" routine? It's obviously afternoon nap time for Ratner and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson.

— Aaron Hillis