I'm actually old enough that when I hear the word 'Taxi' as a title I think first of the melancholy Harry Chapin song, a wonderful piece of music; maybe with a little reflection, I conjure up the seventies sitcom of the same name. Perhaps the makers of this new film were hoping for some of that association to rub off on people and lure them in, because if a movie is titled what it's really about, this one should have been called 'Chasing four hot chicks who can't speak English.'
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.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw 'based on a script by Luc Besson,' because, while I like some of Besson's material, he hasn't done a good movie since 'Fifth Element' and that was a while ago now. I haven't seen his version of this movie, but I'm betting it's nearly as maladroit as this one.
Much of the problem stems from the casting. Fallon, while a funny performer, is just out of place as a dorky, inept bumbler; it's as if he's trying to channel Inspector Clouseau half the time. Having him be a little green is one thing; but he's a walking mess, unable to do anything right, and it gets irritating quickly. Latifah, by contrast, is comfortable in her role, and she's a lot more enjoyable, but it's really hard to accept her as a bike messenger, especially after the lengthy stunt/title sequence they begin the movie with (one of the funniest gags in the movie, unintentionally of course, is watching a bike messenger do all this zany stuff and then having him pull off his helmet at the end of the sequence only to reveal Latifah. Come on, we're just not that naïve). Esposito isn't too bad, but she's only given the standard 'angry cop lieutenant' cliché to work with, and even she can't make it work (and she seems a tad young to be a lieutenant, but that's another story). Only two people are really right for their roles: Bundchen and Ann Margaret, who plays Fallon's lush of a mother. Her scenes are kept short and punchy, and she's really effective and funny. Bundchen doesn't have to do much but look good in incredibly brief outfits, sort of what she does for a living anyway, but she has screen presence and in her limited role she works well enough (and has inhumanly long legs, but that's beside the point). She has just enough sass to pull off the role.
Taxi has a few honest belly laughs, but by and large it's not really that good. The car chases are mildly exciting, but they aren't eye-popping like, say, Matrix 2, just your garden variety screaming around the streets of New York. Taxi isn't a very good film, but it isn't embarrassingly bad either. With some better casting (and some better writing, particularly on Fallon's character) the movie could have been a lot funnier. Pity it isn't.
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.
I knew I was in trouble when I saw 'based on a script by Luc Besson,' because, while I like some of Besson's material, he hasn't done a good movie since 'Fifth Element' and that was a while ago now. I haven't seen his version of this movie, but I'm betting it's nearly as maladroit as this one.
Much of the problem stems from the casting. Fallon, while a funny performer, is just out of place as a dorky, inept bumbler; it's as if he's trying to channel Inspector Clouseau half the time. Having him be a little green is one thing; but he's a walking mess, unable to do anything right, and it gets irritating quickly. Latifah, by contrast, is comfortable in her role, and she's a lot more enjoyable, but it's really hard to accept her as a bike messenger, especially after the lengthy stunt/title sequence they begin the movie with (one of the funniest gags in the movie, unintentionally of course, is watching a bike messenger do all this zany stuff and then having him pull off his helmet at the end of the sequence only to reveal Latifah. Come on, we're just not that naïve). Esposito isn't too bad, but she's only given the standard 'angry cop lieutenant' cliché to work with, and even she can't make it work (and she seems a tad young to be a lieutenant, but that's another story). Only two people are really right for their roles: Bundchen and Ann Margaret, who plays Fallon's lush of a mother. Her scenes are kept short and punchy, and she's really effective and funny. Bundchen doesn't have to do much but look good in incredibly brief outfits, sort of what she does for a living anyway, but she has screen presence and in her limited role she works well enough (and has inhumanly long legs, but that's beside the point). She has just enough sass to pull off the role.
Taxi has a few honest belly laughs, but by and large it's not really that good. The car chases are mildly exciting, but they aren't eye-popping like, say, Matrix 2, just your garden variety screaming around the streets of New York. Taxi isn't a very good film, but it isn't embarrassingly bad either. With some better casting (and some better writing, particularly on Fallon's character) the movie could have been a lot funnier. Pity it isn't.