In a successful bid to achieve popularity in the United States, Jackie Chan courted a new audience of filmgoers with his unique blend of action, comedy, kung-fu and eye-popping stunts.

Unfortunately, New Line chose to promote Chan as some sort of cinematic sideshow attraction ("look... the little Oriental performs his own stunts!") instead of as the heir to Bruce Lee's cinematic legacy. Whatever. The film grossed $10 million in its opening weekend of US release, so I don't think they'll tamper with the formula.

In a story he's wanted to do since visiting the US in 1980 to film THE BIG BRAWL, Chan stars as a Hong Kong cop in the states for the wedding of his uncle (Bill Tung). When Uncle Bill sells his neighborhood grocery store to Elaine (Anita Mui) she enlists Chan's help to help run the store in his absence. Pretty soon, Jackie is defending the store from motorcycle riding thugs wearing 1985-ish MTV attire, attending the needs of his uncle's handicapped neighbor, romancing the girlfriend of the gang leader, and performing a bevy of eye-popping stunts -- including a remarkable building-to-building leap.

From there the story degenerates into the familiar machinations of plenty of Hong Kong scripts, with Chan teaming with the "bad guys" to go after the "even worse guys" that steal wheelchair cushions and pretend to be the FBI. That's beside the point, since the attraction of RUMBLE is the spectacular fight scenes where Chan's underdog persona is put to the test. Though not as good a story or movie as POLICE STORY or SUPER COP, there's plenty of fun in RUMBLE for an enjoyable evening at the movies.