Overwiew :Belle Williams is a speed demon. Flying through the streets of New York in her tricked-out taxi, she’s earned a rep as New York’s fastest cabbie. But driving a hack is only a pit stop for her real dream: Belle wants to be a race car champion. And she’s well on her way--until she’s derailed by overeager cop Andy Washburn, whose undercover skills are matched only by his total ineptitude behind the wheel. Washburn, whose lack of vehicular skills has landed him in the precinct doghouse, is hot on the heels of a gang of beautiful Brazilian bank robbers, led by Vanessa, their cold, calculating--and leggy--leader. To nab the evasive crooks, drivers license-less Washburn convinces Belle to team up with him to pursue Vanessa and crew. Belle has carte blanche to drive at any speed and break any law. The car-less cop and speed-demon cabbie--New York’s unlikeliest partners-- begin a high-speed game of cat and mouse with the robbers. That is, if Belle and Washburn don’t end up killing each other first.
Producers :
Robert Simonds, Ira Shuman, Luc Besson
Critic Reviews
Grade
www.comingsoon.net - : The highest praise I can give this movie is that Jimmy Fallon did not destroy it completely. Fallon plays bumbling police detective Washburn, who, through plenty of fault of his own, is stripped of his drivers license and forced to walk the streets of New York. more...
www.movie-gurus.com - : Officer Washburn (Jimmy Fallon) is a bumbling, stumbling dolt of an example of those entrusted to protect and serve. His driving skills are so poor, one wonders how he ever passed his license exam in the first place. His situation reaches rock-bottom when a rather unfortunate automobile accident costs him his license, wrecks a case he was working on, and instigates much in the way of ridicule from his fellow officers. When he happens upon a bank robbery in progress he commandeers the cab of Belle (Queen Latifah), a former bike messenger armed with an especially souped-up cab. This chance encounter eventually leads the two mismatched personas to team up in order to hunt down and apprehend a gang of thieves who just so happen to look like a bunch of supermodels playing dress-up. more...
www.boxoffice.com - : ''Taxi'' seems less like a releasable movie and more like a dress rehearsal for a releasable movie, or the roadshow production of a dress rehearsal for a releasable movie. Although the film is too forgettable to negatively impact her future employment possibilities, it must be said that Queen Latifah, still living in the afterglow of her 2002 Oscar nomination for Chicago, should seriously know better. As for ex-SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon, ''Taxi'' is the wrong move in his quest for movie-star status. Although he does show promise as an angel-with-his-fingers-crossed, he's too slight to be a leading man. In the future, he should consider taking lesser roles with better directors in better movies, as he did in Woody Allen's ''Anything Else.'' Director Tim Story (the likeable 2002 comedy ''Barbershop'') has yet to imbue a film with any real flavor or style and, when mixed with dialogue on the order of, ''Stop him--he's getting away!'', you've got a comedy so lightweight it almost ceases to exist. more...
Critic Reviews
