Rush out and catch Rush Hour. Put your pedal to the metal and don’t slow down, as everything you laughed at in the trailer ("The fastest hands in the East versus the biggest mouth in the West") hilariously accelerates as this $30 million action comedy speeds along from the fall of British rule in Hong Kong to grid-locked Los Angeles, effectively playing off the cross-cultural, alter-ego mismatch of its stars. No matter that the actual LA rush hour plays a very minor role (actually just one brief scene) as the producers wanted more a title to grab you in than to define the oeuvre. Any more footage probably would have slowed down the plot mechanics anyway.

The Chan-Tucker match-up is broadly reminiscent of the yin-yang combination in Ridley Scott’s Black Rain (1989), with a splash of the dynamic pairing of Gibson and Glover in their initial Lethal Weapon outing (and not their latest lame, tired sequel). It’s one heck of a ride when these two misfits are playing off each other, which is, hallelujah, most of the film. Tucker, believing his counterpart doesn’t understand English, gets a quick lesson in diplomacy from his "chunky king kop" (as in Keystone), while Chan gets an apt pool hall education in the gross misuse of Black American slang. Fancy footwork, dazzling hand play, ferocious gunfights, and amazing stunts (all wrapped in a PG-13 format!), should offer Rush Hour a great chance to boost a general sagging box office from last weekend.

Both stars do a marvelous job of mugging for the camera (including those belonging to a busload of Japanese tourists) and the audience. As they warm to each other’s outrageous proclivities (one’s klutzy garrulous, the other’s quietly dexterous), their relationship cements itself in a series of life-saving incidents and a bonding session in which they reminisce about their fathers, both cops killed in the line of duty. This sequence borrows the comical/uplifting tone of the scar-comparison discussion between Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw in Jaws. Icing on the cake? Sure, when a Chinatown stakeout by our duo has Chan passing time by giving a bravura rendition of Edwin Starr’s 1970 hit War. Bruce Springsteen revived the song in 1986 and Chan does a reprise later in the film. Cherry on top? You bet. As is typical of any Jackie Chan film, there are some gut-busting outtakes as the end credits roll, so DON’T LEAVE EARLY!

Camera work is just fine by Adam Greenberg (Ghost, Terminator 2) and the score by four-time Grammy winner and six-time Oscar nominee Lalo Schifrin won’t win any awards but is certainly serviceable. Rex Linn and Mark Rolston impart earnest performances as get-out-of-my hair FBI agents Whitney and Russ, roles that thankfully rise above parody (but still get a deserved response from the meddling Carter when they offer him a Fed badge for his heroics). Chris Penn (as a low level criminal) and Elizabeth Peña (as a demolition expert in Carter’s unit) provide small but pivotal roles in the loosely contrived plot. Within the confines of the standard-action scenario, the story works just fine and isn’t all that important in this buddy film.

Chan, one of Hong Kong’s own little mini-industry as a star actor, producer, and director for more than two decades is no longer one of Asian’s best kept secrets, in lieu of numerous of his films (Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike, Supercop) earning big bucks and a wider audiences in the U.S. Now, Rush Hour is truly destined to make his first starring role in an American film in over 12 years a memorable hit. Inspired by legendary film comedians Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, Chan’s unique action style continues his conquest of Hollywood. Tucker, who earned his comic stripes doing stand-up before being gunned down as a small-time criminal in Jackie Brown, gloriously comes down to earth from his recent 23^rd century role as video jockey Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element. Tucker may not gain as many fan clubs as his co-star already has, but stardom is certainly knocking at his door.