My wife is a major fan of Jackie Chan and I try to be a dutiful husband which is why, for example, I accompanied her to a movie theater to see "The Tuxedo" and why I rented (but didn't watch) "Shanghai Noon".

"The Twin Dragons" was a different story though. I had seen it years ago, she wasn't sure if she had or not and we were both in the mood for a Chan-driven goof fest full of physical humor and some classic use of environmental props--the huge car chop shop--in an extended but always enjoyable set of action scenes that end the movie. A set of twins that are unknown to each other is a classic set up--Shakespeare's comedies are loaded with them: Antipholus and Dromio times two in "The Comedy of Errors" (the Live from Lincoln Center juggling version with the Flying Karamazov Brothers should not be missed); Viola and Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" are the best examples.

Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark handle the interaction of the twins--the tough Hong Kong car mechanic and the refined Chinese American classical musician. As one could expect it is very uneven: mechanic Ma being forced to conduct an orchestra is dreadful but conductor Bok Min is terrific when his lunch with the delectable and marriage minded Tong Sum is taken over by Ma's adventures with gangsters on a boat. There is a bit of cringe inducing bawdy humor when Tong Sum thinks she is getting a massage but instead is treated to some headboard banging sex and a very well done short bit in which the twins are seated back to back in a restaurant that is a triumph of design and set dressing.

All of this leads to the final half hour, one of the signature extended action scenarios in 1990s Hong Kong cinema.