‘Shanghai Noon’ Could Have Been A Real Winner

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, you’ve had your fill of food and football, and now you’re in the mood for some flicks.  There’s certainly plenty from which to choose, including the Grinch, Charlie’s Chicks, Ah-nuld and more. But there are sure to be crowds at the multiplex, and the big holiday dinner with friends and family has given you less an appetite for more and more people. What to do? Rent a video.

My inspiration came from watching Jackie Chan’s new television venture, the Saturday morning animated series The Jackie Chan Adventures, a vastly entertaining, fun show. It captures well the effervescence and energy of the Hong Kong action master. So, when I subsequently peeked at a list of the top ten video rentals in the country and saw the martial arts star’s Shanghai Noon among them, I knew I had found my viewing selection.

The good news is Shanghai Noon is an engaging lark that works well as an evening home rental.  Chan, who also serves as one of the film’s executive producers, infuses the picture with his trademark physical giddiness and vivacity.  The not-so-good news is that the movie, which at alternating points can be good-naturedly sweet and at others borderline rude, lacks a sharpness from its first-time director, Tom Dey, that could have brought some smoothness to some of its rougher edges and given the whole enterprise some much-needed focus.

Set in 1881, Shanghai Noon follows the adventures of Chon Wang (Chan), a member of the Chinese Imperial Guard who must leave his home in the civilized East and travel to the untamed West to find the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Lui), who is being held ransom in Carson City, Nevada. “Fish out of Water” does not begin to describe poor Chon and his misadventures in the wild frontier, which includes run-ins with train robbers, a conflict with angry Indian warriors, and a misunderstanding with another tribe that ultimately finds him betrothed to the chief’s daughter. But perhaps the most significant path he crosses is that of outlaw Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson), an aspiring Jesse James who in reality is more like a smooth-talking Dean Martin than a charismatic criminal. When Roy discovers that a sizable amount of gold has been sent along with Chon to gain the freedom of the princess, he tags along with his newfound friend and generously decides to help him and his “noble cause.”

Shanghai Noon works well whenever Chan and Wilson are on screen together. It’s apparent that Chan is a very generous screen presence because his latest movies seem to come alive when he is paired with an actor that brings different gifts to the table, varied from his own. Chan’s most successful screen venture, Rush Hour, succeeded because it paired Chan’s quiet kind-heartedness with Chris Tucker’s manic, big-mouthed street persona. Their chemistry worked like a charm.

Here, Chan emphasizes his physicality and nobility and contrasts that with the slacker/wise-acre cowboy persona that Wilson employs. It’s a different kind of chemistry, but the similarity is notable: in each case, Chan is ever giving and allows his co-star an ample amount of scene-stealing. Some Hollywood stars might not be so secure, but Chan’s films are ultimately the better for his willingness to be teamed with actors who bring some diversity of approach to the project.

Shanghai Noon, rated PG-13 for action violence, language and drug humor, also scores points for a unique twist in how the bumbling, mismatched duo continually finds themselves getting out of impossible jams.  However, it must be noted that Shanghai Noon also contains some tacky jokes, including drug humor and borderline racist gags that are undoubtedly done without malice, but nonetheless may rub viewers the wrong way. Ultimately, the film makes for an amusing watch, but with a bit more focus on whether the film wanted to be more sweet (thus bypassing some of the more crude humor and racial jokes) or edgier (a tighter concentration on the villain and his goals), it could have been a real winner.