science

The Tuxedo

The Tuxedo is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Tuxedo rather than just read about it. In short: The Tuxedo is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Kevin Donovan and starring Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The spy parody involves a special tuxedo that grants its wearer superhuman abilities.

Key takeaways

The Tuxedo belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Tuxedo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Tuxedo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Tuxedo is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Kevin Donovan and starring Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The spy parody involves a special tuxedo that grants its wearer superhuman abilities. The plot surrounds a corporate terrorist who threatens to poison the United States' fresh water supply with bacteria that spills electrolytes into the blood and totally dehydrates the host. The film received negative reviews from critics upon release and earned a total worldwide box office gross of $104.4 million.

Plot James "Jimmy" Tong is a taxi driver notorious for his speed and ability to get his customers anywhere in the least amount of time, with no accidents whatsoever. His reputation lands him a job, given by CSA Agent Steena, as the personal chauffeur of the mysterious but wealthy Clark Devlin. Jimmy does not really know what his new boss' job is, but Devlin's friendly nature, imperturbable demeanor, and willingness to offer Jimmy advice wins him over and the two become friends. What Jimmy does not realize is that Devlin is a secret spy and undercover government agent, for an agency called the CSA. When an attempt to kill Devlin with a car bombing sends him into a coma, Jimmy ends up with Devlin's recent case notes and a special watch that controls Devlin's rather unusual tuxedo. The tuxedo is a gadget capable of granting its wearer special abilities (including martial arts, speed, the ability to dance, sing, cling to walls, and to perform various acrobatics) which Jimmy must use to stop the criminal organization responsible for Devlin's attempted murder. The group is a terrorist organization disguised as a corporation named Banning Corporation and is headed by the notorious and ruthless Dietrich Banning. Its goal is to take over the global drinking water supply, starting with the poisoning of major US reservoirs by means of genetically modified water strider insects. These water striders have bacteria that can spread from person to person, causing severe dehydration. By pure chance, Jimmy is joined by a genius scientist with aspirations of field work, Delilah "Del" Blaine. She is completely new to field work and is delighted to be on assignment with Devlin, only to be very confused by Jimmy as he impersonates him, relying on the tuxedo's special abilities to compensate for his lack of skill and training. At first, Blaine thinks Jimmy is weird and annoying and finds it almost impossible to understand what makes him a great agent. When Jimmy's impersonation is finally exposed, she confiscates his borrowed tuxedo and attempts to stop the evil Dietrich Banning on her own by feigning a desire to become a turncoat for Banning Corporation. Meanwhile, Jimmy is ready to give up and go back to his life as a taxi driver, but while packing his belongings, he discovers that Devlin had ordered a second suit for Jimmy himself, believing that Jimmy could also be a great agent. Using his new suit, Jimmy defeats the villain, Banning, by putting a cigarette in Blaine's mouth. Banning's tuxedo automatically forces him to pull out a lighter and light her cigarette. In the confusion, Jimmy begins to punch Banning. During the fight, Jimmy throws a glass containing the queen of the water striders into Banning's mouth. He is then infected with bacteria from the water strider. The other remaining water striders attack Banning and he then dies instantaneously from terminal dehydration. As compensation for his role in bringing down Banning, the organization uses its resources to orchestrate an operation so that Jimmy can finally meet his dream girl. However, confused by Blaine's, Steena's, and the now-recovered Devlin's conflicting instructions on how to act Jimmy succeeds only in alarming the girl into threatening to mace him, resulting in the operation being aborted. Consoling Jimmy afterwards, Blaine admits feeling sad that no one had ever tried to do for her what he had just done. He tells her that she has to change her shrewish personality and be more accommodating if she ever wants to have a boyfriend. Feeling a tentative attraction for each other, they walk away to buy coffee together.

Cast Jackie Chan as James "Jimmy" Tong / Clark Devlin Jennifer Love Hewitt as CSA Agent Delilah "Del" Blaine Jason Isaacs as CSA Agent Clark Devlin / Brad Dillford (Inspired by Ian Fleming's James Bond) Debi Mazar as CSA Agent Steena Ritchie Coster as Dietrich Banning Peter Stormare as Dr. Simms Mia Cottet as Cheryl Romany Malco as Mitch Daniel Kash as Rogers Jody Racicot as Kells Boyd Banks as Vic Christian Potenza as CSA Agent Joel Scott Wickware as CSA Agent Wallace Karen Glave as CSA Agent Randa Scott Yaphe as CSA Agent Gabe Jordan Madley as Holly James Brown as himself Colin Mochrie as gallery owner Noah Danby as bike messenger Kim Roberts as ER nurse

Production

Jackie Chan was unsure about the project adding special effects together with stunts, but was interested to work with DreamWorks for the chance to meet Steven Spielberg. Chan found the American approach to stunts and safety restrictive and wanted to repeat a jump but was not allowed. "American films are different -- it drives me crazy," said Chan. On her first day of stunts, Jennifer Love Hewitt suffered a broken finger after being struck by one of the stunt men. Principal photography began in September 2001 and ended in January 2002. During filming in Toronto, Chan and Love Hewitt appeared on an on-set webcam and interacted with fans. Chan worked on The Tuxedo in between shooting The Medallion, which started before, and completed shooting later.

Soundtrack After an initial score by Christophe Beck, John Debney was brought in to rescore the film (incorporating Beck's thematic material). Both composers ultimately had cues included in the final version. The soundtrack album was released on October 1, 2002. It was handled by soundtrack label Varèse Sarabande, rather than DreamWorks' own in-house label DreamWorks Records, which primarily focused on rock and pop artists. It includes different cues written by the composers for the same scenes. Cues by Debney are in italics, cues by Beck in bold.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Tuxedo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Tuxedo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Tuxedo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Tuxedo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Tuxedo

In research: The Tuxedo appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Tuxedo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Tuxedo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s martial arts comedy films, 2000s spy comedy films, 2002 American films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Tuxedo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Tuxedo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Tuxedo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Tuxedo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Tuxedo in simple terms?

Why does The Tuxedo matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Tuxedo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Tuxedo.