Stuck in first gear... Rush Hour 3.
Mutterings and moans aplenty on this blog recently about how film critics, and our own Guardian writers in particular, are out of step with the public. Transformers was bloody brilliant, apparently, and dear Lord how could anyone not have enjoyed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? It's because we're all far too busy chuckling to ourselves over the subtle comic nuances of Ingmar Bergman's ouvre, you see. So perhaps we should just let you review the blockbusters and lea... but hey, that's what this blog is all about isn't it?
In the US at least (the figures for the UK aren't out yet) Rush Hour 3 proved by far the weekend's most popular film, although had Fanny and Alexander been re-released over there we're sure the outcome would have been very, very different. The latest reteaming of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan took an explosive $50.2m (£25m) Stateside, $17m less than 2001's Rush Hour 2, but not bad considering Tucker's not been in anything since, well, 2001's Rush Hour 2.
But those damned critics, once again, are just not playing ball. "Jokes like 'the fat one is yours', and explaining why he nicked some Iranians by saying 'just 'cos they cure cancer in rats doesn't mean they don't blow s*** up', were met with groans," writes new The Sun film critic "The Sneak", while Paul Arendt of the BBC describes Tucker's performance as "two hours of non-stop, ear-shattering, humourless shrieking".
Our own Peter Bradshaw labels the film "the lamest of lame ducks", adding "Chris Tucker looks weirdly dead behind the eyes", while Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times damns the movie with the faintest of faint praise. "If you are trapped in a rainstorm in front of a theatre playing this picture, by all means go right in. You won't have a bad time, will feel affectionate toward Lee and Carter, and stay dry," he writes.
So come on then, what did you think? Did the critics get it wrong again? Is Tucker worth every cent of that reported $20m-a-movie price tag? Are you waiting with bated breath for his return as marijuana-befuddled Smokey in 2009's planned Friday sequel, Last Friday? Am I a patronising bastard? All these questions and more require your responses below.
