Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Taxi (2004)
Director: Tim Story
Movie review
From Time Out London
Incredible as it may seem, this staggeringly inept Hollywood remake is even more stupid than the Gallic original: a star vehicle with no stars, it’s also a buddy comedy without buddies, or comedy. Scalping is too good for deluded ‘Barbershop’ director Tim Story, who claims the chemistry-free collision between Queen Latifah’s rookie New York cabby and ex-‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian Jimmy Fallon’s crash-prone cop is a gender-bending deconstruction of ‘buddy comedy’ conventions.Belle (Latifah) drives a souped-up taxi and dreams of becoming a racing driver. Instead, she ends up playing chauffeur to disgraced cop Andy Washburn (Fallon), who drives like a man in need of a white stick. Together they chase the gorgeous gang of BMW-driving bank robbers led by leggy Brazilian überbabe Vanessa (supermodel Gisele Bündchen). Handily, Belle speaks the thieves’ lingo, because – wait for it – she used to deliver for a Portuguese takeaway. Convinced? You won’t be.
The Luc Besson-scripted original mixed exciting, expertly staged car chases with perfunctory characterisation and dialogue, the former compensating in part for the latter. This remake doesn’t even manage that: the obvious use of blue screen undercuts any sense of jeopardy or excitement, since we never believe Belle and Washburn are actually in a moving vehicle.
Despite scene-stealing supporting roles in ‘Living Out Loud’ and ‘Chicago’, the multi-talented Latifah falls flat on her beautiful face; the charisma-free Fallon may regret leaving ‘SNL’; and Ann-Margret’s cameo as Fallon’s Margarita-muddled mother is both sad and embarrassing. In one pitifully unfunny scene, Latifah and Fallon accidentally inhale laughing gas. It would take a tankerload of laughing gas to pump some humour into this flat-tyred fiasco.
Author: NF
Time Out London Issue 1787: November 17-24, 2004
Cast & crew
Director: Tim Story
Producer: Luc Besson
Cast: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Henry Simmons, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen, Ann-Margret full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Comedy
Duration: 97 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now