When Hong Kong Inspector Lee is summoned to Los Angeles to investigate a kidnapping, the FBI doesn't want any outside help and assigns cocky LAPD Detective James Carter to distract Lee from the case. Not content to watch the action from the sidelines, Lee and Carter form an unlikely partnership and investigate the case themselves.
Rush Hour effectively teams Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in a formulaic but funny action comedy that should please fans of both stars.
– Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb 2001
fresh:
Rush Hour is a righteous title for an action comedy, and that's only the beginning.
– Bob Graham,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Jun 2002
fresh:
Much of the best dialogue, you suspect, was improvised by Tucker and Chan, who seem truly taken with each other and make a delightful, ordinary-extraordinary pair.
– Charlotte O'Sullivan,
Time Out,
9 Feb 2006
rotten:
The contrast between Tucker's motormouth and Chan's man of few words should be funnier, but the plot -- which is cliched without quite becoming self-reflexive -- and the uneven pace dampen most of their moments.