Taxi (2004)

Directed by Tim Story
Screenplay by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lenon and Jim Kouf
Based on the screenplay by Luc Besson

Taxi is the typical action comedy that Hollywood usually grinds out, which is about the nicest thing I can say about it. It's a boring, insipid, by-the-numbers movie that leaves the viewer numbed and nonplussed, wondering why they didn't choose to read a book, call a friend or even devote that 90 minutes to working for a charity.

The film opens with an elaborate action sequence of someone on a bicycle riding through New York City. We later discover that someone is Queen Latifah. The fact that the rider and Latifah have different body shapes would have normally been bothersome to me, but I had already been distracted by seeing parts of Los Angeles cut into the film as if they were New York. This might be a minor issue for some, but I live near and work in Los Angeles, so it took me out of the moment, as it did every time it occurred during the action sequences. I understand there was probably a small budget for this film, if not someone better have been fired. Combining locations this way must have saved them money, but the two cities look nothing alike. There is nothing uniquely New York about the story so the location could easily have been moved to a cheaper location.

When filmmakers pay no attention to the details, I'm never sure if they are incompetent or that they think the public is so dumb that no one will notice. The more I watched the film and after listening to the director's commentary track, which I'll deal with later, I am inclined to think it is the former. Either way, I gave up on the film in less than five minutes.

The premise of the film is that cab driver/racing car enthusiast Latifah works with dim-witted, police officer Jimmy Fallon in trying to solve the mystery of the bank-robbing, hot models from Brazil. Obviously, they are going to save the day, but the trick is to make the plot and characters so interesting that the viewer lives in the moments of the scenes. There's no surprise when this isn't done. There is no characterization, leaving Latifah and Fallon with nothing to do other than spout lines as themselves essentially. If you like them, that's great because you get nothing more.

Article Author: El Bicho

El Bicho writes for a number of movie web sites, including Cinema Sentries, which he runs for the geniuses of Forwerd Media. He also occasionally cleans up around here. Follow at twitter.com/ElBicho_CS

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