After seeing Rush Hour 3, I gave some consideration to the question of what is offensive and what isn't. This blog is an attempt to answer that question and a response to the film.
It's a tricky business trying to figure out what is offensive and what is biting satire. In Rush Hour 3 when Chris Tucker says, "Them Iranians was terrorists" and his superior points out that they were medical scientists, he replies, "Oh, so just 'cause they cure cancer in rats they can't blow shit up?" I wasn't even tempted to laugh, but the thought did occur to me that I laughed hard at similar jokes in Borat. So, what's the difference? Did Chris Tucker cross some invisible line? No. That crack wasn't anything beyond what Sacha Baron Cohen and other very funny people have said. The difference is simpler. Cohen and the other writers of Borat were trying to make people laugh. That's why the film was filmed with clever dialogue, perfectly choreographed physical comedy, wit and, most important of all, originality. There was thought put into Borat. All one needs to see to realize how much thought was put into Rush Hour 3 is the scene in which Jackie Chan says, "I'm half-black. I'm your brother and I'm fly. You down with that?" Yes, a person who isn't black speaking as though they are. That's not the kind of joke people write when you're trying to make people laugh. It's the kind of joke people write when they realize that what the audience sees after giving up their money is of little importance.
