Chris Tucker is fast on his feet.

Jackie Chan is fast with his feet.

Add the pair to car chases, stunts, gunfire, wisecracks, women and a signature backdrop -- in this case, the Eiffel Tower glowing in the Parisian night sky -- and you've got "Rush Hour 3." If you liked "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2," then it's a safe bet you'll enjoy this one.

Glen Wilson, New Line Cinema Jackie Chan, left, and Chris Tucker on the Paris set of "Rush Hour 3." Click photo for larger image. 'Rush Hour 3' Starring: Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan. Director: Brett Ratner. Rating: PG-13 for sequences of action violence, sexual content, nudity and language. Web site: rushhourmovie.com Related story Family Film Guide Previous coverage Chris Tucker doesn't rush into movie roles

The action comedies are not exactly my cup of tea (which is ideally poured into bone china and served with a side of scones and Jane Austen). However, think of it this way: It's like going into a McDonald's in Pittsburgh and ordering a Big Mac and then doing the same in Cleveland or Orlando. While the stores' layout and decor will differ, the ingredients will be the same.

In other words, you know what you're going to get and you either have a taste for the franchise or you don't.

As the movie opens, Tucker's Detective Carter is back in uniform in Los Angeles and directing -- or misdirecting -- traffic as he sings and dances to his music.

His erstwhile partner and pal, Inspector Lee (Chan), is escorting Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma, from the first film) to an address at the World Criminal Court. A would-be assassin shoots Han just as he's about to disclose crucial information about the notorious Chinese criminals known as the Triads.

That sends Lee on a foot pursuit and Carter on a car chase after the marksman, Kenji (Hiroyuki Sanada). In short order, the cops have wangled the assignment of traveling to Paris so they can protect the ambassador's daughter and the head of the World Criminal Court (Max von Sydow).

In the States and overseas, the men encounter Triad assassins, martial-arts masters small and very large and, of course, scantily clad women backstage and in the bedroom. Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski turns up as an abusive cop and French actor Yvan Attal is a surly cab driver who initially wants no part of Americans.

A chase involving a motorcycle and a taxi linked together is impressive, although it looks demure compared with the action in the ultra-serious "The Bourne Ultimatum." The story is almost irrelevant to the movie, directed again by Brett Ratner and featuring some threads about brotherhood and a clandestine villain who might as well be wearing a red V on his chest.

The screenplay is the very brittle skeleton that allows Tucker to make jokes -- encountering a 7-foot-9 martial artist (Sun Ming Ming), he cracks, "This boy's on steroids, he's got a head like Barry Bonds" -- and the 53-year-old Chan to scamper, leap and fight like a man half his age on the Eiffel Tower.

The Bonds line was amusing, especially on the hitter's historic night, but not funny is Tucker pummeling a French-speaking Chinese killer and insisting, "You're Asian, stop humiliating yourself. ... Speak English" or when he engages in a knockoff of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first?" routine with two men named Yu and Mi. Get it?

A preview audience howled throughout. Unlike me, they clearly got a rush from "Rush Hour 3."