Rush Hour Trilogy

Finding a good comedy team that works well together doesn't come along every day so when actors click together the studios try to take advantage of it. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, who were both successful actors in their own rights, were teamed up together in 1998 to do a fish out of water movie involving police officers, one from America and one from Hong Kong. All three stories are a little hard to believe but that's the best thing about movies like this, the audience for a short period of time is able to suspend their reality and live out the fantasy of an action hero.
Rush Hour - When the Chinese Ambassador's daughter is kidnapped Hong Kong's best inspector is teamed up with Los Angeles' worst detective to save the day. The chemistry between these two very talented actors comes across without very little effort. The jokes that Tucker hurls at Chan's straight guy character comes away looking like some of the old Abbott and Costello routines, funny but they seem to be worn.
Rush Hour 2 - While on vacation in Hong Kong Lee and Carter are drawn into a case involving the murder of customs agents. Here Chan is at his best in the way of stunts, some of the things that he pulls off are amazing to see and then when they run the gag reel at the end of the film you get to see the effort that went into some of them. With moving the story to Hong Kong we're given the other side of the coin with Tucker being the odd man out, but even here it seems to be a rehash of the first film.
Rush Hour 3 - Once again drawn together after the attempted assassination of the Chinese Ambassador, Lee and Carter must travel to Paris to catch the killer and stop the international criminal organization known as the Triad. After having each of the characters play their fish out of water scenarios in the first two movies, dropping the two of them into a situation that is alien to them both was the only route left for this series. One of the best highlights of this film is when Carter shows how much he has learned about martial arts in one of the final fight sequences.
As buddy films go this series ranks right up there with other action series, even though its more comedy than action but with the likes of Jackie Chan in the mix you can't have nothing but fun. Some of the stunts that Chan pulls off in these movies is very reminiscent of his Hong Kong series of films, but with an American flair added to the story gives him the opportunity to pull off some one of a kind feats. Even though all three films are funny and the way Chan and Tucker play off of each other works a lot of the jokes are telegraphed and stale, which gets the laughs but leaves the audience wanting more. So all in all it's a series to watch and enjoy, but there just isn't enough fun to draw an experienced audience back repeatedly.