Bad as it might be as a movie, The Tuxedo can be seen as an allegory of star Jackie Chan's Hollywood career. A hit in the two Rush Hour films and Shanghai Noon largely because he relies on his innate charm and spectacular physical gifts, he overreaches here by dressing up as something he isn't. He's donned the mantle of special effects, demonstrating that when coupled with a threadbare script and ham-handed direction, clothes can definitely unmake the man.

Chan plays Jimmy Tong (as in "I'm Tong -- James Tong"), a New York cabbie whose idea of style is a Hooters T-shirt and a love patch. But he knows how to drive (when did Jackie Chan learn to drive?), and he's hired by a slick secret agent as the man's chauffeur. When the agent is incapacitated by a bomb (a shameless lift from The Dead Pool), Tong must put on his boss's high-tech tuxedo (which grants its wearer extraordinary powers), team up with a fellow agent (a strikingly irritating Jennifer Love Hewitt), and save the world from a bottled-water magnate who plans to poison the world's water supply. That last part is almost interesting, but bad acting, stilted comedy, and general ineptitude ensure that it never amounts to anything. Despite what Chan mutters in one of the film's few funny lines, this is definitely a rental. (100 minutes) At the Apple Valley, Entertainment, Flagship, Holiday, Providence Place Mall 16, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.