"Rush Hour 3" *** (out of four): Reliably energetic entry in the lowbrow Tucker-Chan action-comedy series manages to be both smart and stupid at the same time.

After the surprising success of 1998’s Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker buddy comedy “Rush Hour” (I mean, really, who expected this to become a profitable franchise?) and it’s high-grossing 2001 sequel “Rush Hour 2”, the “Hour” team returns for a third go. And, as this summer is proving, just because it’s a third sequel doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. The filmmakers – returning director Brett Ratner and “2” scribe Jeff Nathanson – adhere religiously to the formula that made the first two films hard to dislike: Mr. Tucker’s motor-mouth and Mr. Chan’s dizzying physicality. Having sent up the fish-out-of-water scenario in America (the original) and China (“2”), “Rush Hour 3” takes both characters out of their respective elements and drops them in Paris to hunt down the mysterious Shy Shen.

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