The target audience for The Tuxedo is somewhat ambiguous; too gory and convoluted for a really young crowd, and despairingly stupid for older viewers. The plot sees Jackie Chan‘s unassuming chauffeur don a magical tuxedo providing him with computer-generated special powers, ideal for combating a dastardly baron planning to spike the nation’s water supply with genetically modified spiders. The comedy set-pieces fall flat. An extended James Brown routine will leave you baffled and a tad disturbed. The action is just as shocking. This was Jackie Chan’s first fully-fledged endorsement of effects-led set-pieces and it’s a muddled experiment, with director Kevin Donovan using the tuxedo as a device to add a skewed plausibility to Chan’s exuberant style of action. But the suit acts like a straight-jacket for the prolific performer. The film’s over-reliance on gimmickry means that just about anybody could have starred in this, and you wonder whether Chan has somehow stumbled into the wrong film. It aptly highlights the kind of reductive roles being offered to Chan by mainstream Hollywood following the huge success of Rush Hour.