Taxi (2004)

A foul-mouthed cabbie called Belle (a humorous Queen Latifa) join forces with a botcher , bungler cop called Andy (a newcomer Jimmy Fallon). She's the fastest taxi-woman with a perfect boyfriend (Henry Simmons). He's a complete inept behind the car and under skirts his alcoholic mother (a sympathetic Anne-Margret). They pursue a band of gorgeous Brazilian models robbers of banks led by Vanessa (Gisele Bundchen, ex-girlfriend of Leonardo DeCaprio), an explosive and leggy gal. When they are on the heels of the gang , the crook girls drive a speed demon pursued by the taxi in a fast and furious car race .

The film displays action ,comedy , intrigue , tongue-in-cheek and results to be quite entertaining . There are chases galore with impressive velocities . Almost all shots in which you see the taxi or other cars in the street, or car stunts performed in the streets, were really filmed in Los Angeles, not New York . It's a run-of-the-mill action-comedy film because from the beginning to the final the fast movement and amusement is nonstop . The laughters and chuckles are varied and giggles are based about diverse characters and differences among protagonists , but they are unlikeliest pals . The film is exciting and humorous at times but is also ridiculous and embarrassing . However , sometimes is fresh and diverting and on a couple of memorable occasions is hilarious . Lively and atmospheric music adjusted to action by Christophe Beck and colorful cinematography by Burberry . The movie was lavishly produced by Luc Besson (producer of the French Taxi I,II ,III..). The motion picture was regularly directed by Tin Story , though Kevin Bray was originally set to direct, but dropped out . It's a fun ride that will appeal to Queen Lafitah fans and action-comedy buffs . Rating : Below average .

Fmovies: When he loses his driver's license, an inept police officer (Jimmy Fallon) must rely on the reckless driving skills of a taxi driver who would prefer to drive race cars (Queen Latifah) to help him stop a gang of beautiful Brazilian bank robbers.

The premise sounds like one of those film that are really stupid yet still kind of funny. However, it didn't really work out like that. The film wasn't a complete dud it just wasn't very funny. I wasn't surprised this film didn't do so well in theaters. The previews were weak and a lot of people don't like Jimmy Fallon. I only saw it because of Queen Latifah. Unfortunately, she couldn't save the movie. The film was just too childish and unoriginal. There were a few funny lines yet nothing that really made me laugh a lot. It starts off well but then it starts to drag and it feels a lot longer than 97 minutes. I even had low expectations because the critics murdered the movie but it was not very funny.

Queen Latifah is easily the best thing about Taxi. She has a lot of charisma and she makes the film watchable. Jimmy Fallon was okay, nothing special. Sometimes he tried too hard to be funny though. For his first movie, he sure made a poor choice. He could have a successful movie career, he just needs to make better choices. Gisele Bundchen is very beautiful and she did a good job but her role didn't exactly call for a lot of acting talent. The direction was uneven and Tim Story isn't a very good director. Also, the chemistry between Latifah and Fallon just wasn't there and they didn't seem right for each other. This comedy just suffered from a weak script and weak direction. It ended up being a below average comedy and it wasn't worth watching in theaters. In the end, if you're interested in watching Taxi wait for video. Rating 4/10

YES! This movie is a re-make of an original french movie Taxi, in case you didn't know and a pretty bad one. If you are too lazy to read subtitles, well then I guess you are better off with this us trashy version. If you are not, then get the original from 1998 with Samy Naceri and Peugeot. It is sooo much better.

The problem here is that for some reason, the bank gang just had to be a bunch of out of control Russian models. Yes! Beacouse that is going to happen! This movie is just an inch from these evil mafia walking around naked, it is hardly believable at all.

Plus, I am sorry, but Queen Latifah is not really convincing as a racer person and in to the car kind of a person.

Sorry, folks, I say you could just put less money into dubbing the original, than throwing them away for a poor try-out. I am NOT saying all this just because I am from Europe.

Taxi fmovies. Unfortunately, this was a film that looked better in the trailers when the film was being promoted, prior to its commercial release. We just caught with it thanks to a borrowed DVD and we are so happy we didn't have to pay to watch this "masterpiece".

The film, directed by Tim Story, is a rip off. It is loosely based on much better French comedies created by Luc Besson. This one here gives credit to Ben Garant as its writer.

"Taxi" is an exercise in how not to make movies. The casting of Jimmy Fallon for the main role was a poor judgment by whoever decided to give the comedian this plum job; he is not even funny! The opening sequence involving the undercover operation where Washburn fakes to be a Cuban mafioso, shows that Mr. Fallon needs to reconsider future appearances in films.

Queen Latifah, a charismatic performer, is handicapped having to act next to an inane actor that ruins some of her best moments in the movie. Ann Margaret must have been feeling desperate when she agreed to appear in this film as the lush mother of Washburn, but on second thought, it makes perfect sense that with a son like him, drinking is the only way this woman can go through life.

Watch it at your own risk!

I'm tempted to just write "This movie sucks" and then go see the original again, but that wouldn't be very helpful to you guys. Here's why this movie sucks.

To sum up the movie, I steal from oshram-3 (One of the other comments) "The plot of Taxi follows Detective Washburn (Jimmy Fallon, making his debut as a movie lead) and bike-messenger-turned-cab-driver Belle (Queen Latifah) as they inadvertently get tangled up with one another and have to figure out who is ripping off a series of Manhattan banks and try to catch them. Rounding out the cast (no pun intended) are Jennifer Esposito (you might remember her from Spin City) as Washburn's lieutenant, Marta, and supermodel Gisele Bundchen as the head hot chick."

Luc Besson's action-comedy Taxi(1998) was a great movie, mostly due to decent acting, funny characters and social/cultural references. In this American remake, all that is gone.

The characters in themselves are severely less intricate than in Besson's original, and maybe the best of them all is gone. I am, of course, talking about the utterly insane police captain. Then again, of course the Americans would leave him out, since he's a parody of every single angry police chief in American movies. All that's left is Queen Latifah driving a taxi, and a cop that's just pathetic, and doesn't have that likable quality Frédéric Diefenthal had in the french version.

Also, the political correctness really shines through the gaps in this film. Every single strong character is a woman. The only guy in the entire core group of the movie is the awkward cop/disguise artist. The movie has been carefully constructed so it doesn't lash out at any particular groups in society, and by doing that, you lose the edge.

I see this movie as a blatant attempt to salvage careers and make some money on the fact that Americans don't like subtitles. It's also a classic example of what happens when you let lawyers and politically correct groups scare you out of doing things right.

Slick, flashy film, a semi-remake of Luc Besson's "Taxi" from 1998, here Americanized as an urban action-comedy. Queen Latifah plays smart-mouthed cabbie with a souped-up vehicle in New York City who inadvertently partners with stumble bum cop Jimmy Fallon to crack a major crime case. Film should have relied more on Latifah's natural sass and less on Fallon's white-bread, dim-witted act (race is a constant punchline in the script, and Fallon is just there as Exhibit A). Jennifer Esposito is wonderful as a no-nonsense police lieutenant, Ann-Margret is a stitch as Fallon's tippling mother, and John Sierros (Broadway actor shamefully credited as 'Fat Cop') shines as a bamboozled police officer, but what happened to Queen Latifah? She gets a few good cracks in, but there's no character here for her to play; she sticks to her sarcastic persona and puts everyone down, but her role is depressingly one-dimensional. Comedy has a fast pace, impressive cinematography (although the swooping crane shots in traffic get repetitive) and some good car chases, but the screenplay needed an overhaul. ** from ****