ush Hour” smartly blends Jackie Chan’s signature kung fu with Chris Tucker’s loud-mouthed, fast-paced blabbering (essentially reworking his eccentric role from “The Fifth Element”) for a consistently thrilling action comedy. It’s a tried-and-true design (like “48 Hrs.” and “Lethal Weapon”) with just enough story to keep audiences interested, as nonstop jokes alternate with stunning martial arts sequences. Director Brett Ratner’s distinct style makes “Rush Hour” a must-see, as its fish-out-of-water theme enjoyably merges with the polar opposite lawmen gimmick and all sorts of amusing squabbling.

Hong Kong emissary Han (Tzi Ma) comes to America for diplomatic business, but receives a terrifying welcoming when his young daughter Soo Yung (Julia Hsu) is kidnapped. Held for ransom by a large underground criminal organization, headed by the mysterious and secretive Juntao, little Soo Yung’s only hope is longtime family friend and Hong Kong Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan). But in the states, the FBI doesn’t want a foreigner to interfere with their operations – so they deploy LAPD goofball Officer James Carter (Chris Tucker) to distract Lee and keep him away from the conspirative plot of the Juntao syndicate.

In this culture clash of East against West, customs, society, and ethnicity make for an easy barrage of jokes and gags. From taking Lee to Chinatown so he doesn’t feel so foreign, to a brawl in a bar caused by Lee’s attempt to mimic racial slang, the occasionally overused tactic is one of the project’s major components. It’s somehow kept fresh, however, thanks to the undeniable energy of the leads and the incredible fight choreography that supplements it. And as these buddy cop films often go, it’s neither the scheming Asian gang nor the shady officials Carter frequently misuses in the name of the law that are as much of an obstacle as simply learning to trust one another. Since it’s all done in an overtly comic fashion, political correctness seems far from an issue.

Jackie Chan plays his typical all-around good guy, scripted to be serious in the right places yet appropriately silly at others, embodying the perfect, composed straight man to Tucker’s relentless joker. Chan also demonstrates his usual eye-popping stunts and martial arts skills that always impress – paired with a level of violence that rarely breaches total family-friendliness. His fighting style almost always incorporates humorous props and tones down the heavy-hitting nature of hand-to-hand combat with slapstick elements.

Chris Tucker is another matter entirely. Almost solely comic relief, audiences will either love him or hate him; presumably there is no middle ground, though perhaps this works to intensify Lee’s frustration and the bridge he must gap to befriend the cantankerous Los Angeles cop. His constant, obnoxious, often grating ramblings are routinely outrageous, if only in their absurdity, employed alongside cheap tricks and corrupt police tactics that question his respect for the badge. Borrowing style from Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop,” Tucker’s mannerisms and expressions often out-stage his jabbering dialogue. As the truthful tagline states, “The Fastest Hands in the East Meet the Biggest Mouth in the West.”

– The Massie Twins