Rush Hour (1998)

I guess I was off in my Jackie Chan timeline thinking that these movies, the Rush Hour franchise, came after Shanghai Noon and maybe after Shanghai Knights. Based on the release date of this one, at least the first two came before Shanghai Noon, and maybe all 3. Sigh. I guess Owen Wilson must have seemed more bankable. In some ways, Christ Tucker is a lot like Owen Wilson - they each play very similar characters in most of their movies. But at least Chris Tucker hasn't been foolish enough yet to start doing Woody Allen movies. I guess those are probably a better fit for Owen Wilson.
For an action-comedy-buddy-cop-kung-fu movie, Rush Hour is alright. It is virtually interchangeable with any other Jackie Chan movie where he is co-starring with an American actor, with the possible exception of The Tuxedo which he did with Jennifer Love-Hewitt. Let me straight up with y'all and tell you, I love these movies, not just Jackie Chan, but the whole Hong Kong and American genre of both serious and comedic kung-fu films. They very greatly in quality, but they are all entertaining and have a base production value that is better than the base for other genres, and the top of the genre is on par with the top of other genres.
What is really significant about this movie is it's use non-caucasian actors in all of the key roles. We have Chinese and African-American actors in the lead roles and the only back-up role that actually helps them out (there are more than a few that do not hinder) is a Latina actor. Not only does Elizabeth Pena play a female police detective, she is training to work in the bomb squad - not a traditional female role. All of the bumbling cops and FBI agents are middle-aged and older caucasian actors. I've decided to use 'caucasian' because that is the term the movie uses in the credits, with for example "first caucasian guest", etc. I don't have exact numbers, but this movie did very well at the box office and on VHS and DVD and I'm guessing more than a few of those fans where caucasian. See Hollywood, you can entertain us and get our dollars and still show us a story that looks more like our lives.
Oh, and sorry about all the hyphens, sometimes you just can't help it.

Rush Hour at IMDb