Will the sequel to 1998’s surprise hit, Rush Hour starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, produce another surprise by knocking out the apes and dinosaurs now dominating the top of the box-office? Many critics think it has a good chance. Not that they are giving the film a lot of raves. Joe Morgenstern observes in the Wall Street Journal that “summer moviegoers no longer expect excellence, let alone demand it, so Rush Hour 2 is sure to pass, and to hit up the American economy for a killing.” Kevin Courrier in the Toronto Globe and Mail remarks that “Rush Hour 2 — which demands absolutely nothing of the viewer — is a competent, reasonably enjoyable piece of formula entertainment.” Stephen Hunter also gives the film about a B-minus grade. “It’s about half as much fun as the original, and for August, that’s probably good enough,” he remarks. A.O. Scott in the New York Times has a similar reaction. “The movie looks and feels like one of the assembly-line Hong Kong martial- arts pictures of old,” he writes. “It’s not particularly valuable, but it’s not counterfeit either.” Several critics comment that the the outtakes at the end of the film are funnier than anything in the movie itself — particularly one scene in which costar Chris Tucker gets a call on his cell phone while in the middle of a take.
