Lucy Liu

Tarantinoid...the machinations are all familiar enough that your unoccupied brain may drift off to wonder how Hartnett's made a career out of bad haircuts.

The movie's crackpot message—'To make something special, you just have to believe it's special'—may best be proven by the existence of this funny, unpretentious crowd-pleaser.

Though the film nakedly seeks a wide audience through conventional plotting and characterization—and despite being (like most action movies) guy-centric—Shanghai Noon provides good, clean 'family' fun.