Review: Taxi


Hopeless cop who can’t drive (Jimmy Fallon) hooks up with a sassy cab driver with a suped-up ride (Queen Latifah) to bust a gang of Brazilian bank-robbing supermodels. No, Really! Jennifer Esposito is the resident angry boss, who in a twist never really bothered with, used to date Fallon. Ann-Margret is scarily convincing as Fallon’s spacey, martini-loving mother.



Too good-natured and low-aiming to really get mad at, this 2004 Tim Story (“Barbershop”) remake of a Luc Besson film might’ve been better if the Fallon-Latifah stuff was actually a subplot, and the supermodel bank robber stuff moved more to the fore...and if they added a little something called humour. A laughing gas scene and Ann-Margret acting drunk (I think she’s acting) reeks of desperation, and so do gags about suped-up cars and bad driving. Oscar nominee Latifah (whose dialogue is at least 50% comprised of the exclamation ‘Damn!’, it seems) and Esposito (looking unhappy) are especially wasted, though the latter does get seductively frisked by Brazilian supermodel Giselle (whose performance isn’t anywhere near as bad as people say), which might float your boat momentarily.



It’s not like this was aiming for great comedy heights, and it certainly doesn’t come close to achieving them, or anything else really. It helps if you can tolerate Fallon (though I find him most funny when he’s unintentionally laughing during an “SNL” sketch). He’s affable, the film forgettable. Scripted by Jim Kouf (“Stakeout”, “Another Stakeout”, and the fun teen comedy “Up the Creek”), Ben Garant and comedy actor Thomas Lennon, who might’ve tried harder. It’s not terrible, though. There you go, that’s praise…sort of...not really.



Rating: C

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