Taxi (2004/I)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Tim Story

Writers (WGA):

Luc Besson (earlier screenplay)
Robert Ben Garant (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 October 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Take a Ride on the Wild Side.

Plot:

A mouthy and feisty taxicab driver (Latifah) has hot tips for a green and inept cop (Fallon) set on solving a string of New York City bank robberies commited by a quartet of female Brazilian bank robbers.

Plot Keywords:

Brazilian | New York City | Bank Robbery | Taxicab | Undercover

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 19

12:00 PM

FX

Cast

Queen Latifah	...	Isabelle 'Belle' Williams
Jimmy Fallon	...	Andrew 'Andy' Washburn
Henry Simmons	...	Jesse
Jennifer Esposito	...	Lt. Marta Robbins
Gisele Bündchen	...	Vanessa
Ana Cristina de Oliveira	...	Redhead
Ingrid Vandebosch	...	Third Robber
Magali Amadei	...	Fourth Robber
Ann-Margret	...	Washburn's Mom
Christian Kane	...	Agent Mullins
Boris McGiver	...	Franklin
Adrian Martinez	...	Brasilian Man
Joe Lisi	...	Mr. Scalia
Bryna Weiss	...	Mrs. Scalia
GQ	...	Stopwatch Messenger

Also Known As:

New York Taxi (France)
Taxi 2004 (UK) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality and brief violence.

Runtime:

97 min | USA:104 min (extended version)

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English | Portuguese | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Norway:7 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:10 (original rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:MG6 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12PG | Ireland:15 (DVD rating) | South Korea:12

Filming Locations:

23rd St. & Madison Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Filming the initial car chase occurred during fall 2003 as there is a large billboard, briefly glimpsed, for the short-lived WB series "Tarzan" (2003).

Goofs:

Continuity: During the first chase, Washburn goes from wearing a leather jacket to the gray sweatshirt jacket he sports later on in the film, then back to the leather jacket again.

Quotes:

Washburn: [pulls out his badge] See this? This is a badge! It means your not allowed to *scream* at me!
Belle: [takes the badge] Ah Ah Ah.
Washburn: [tries to get badge back] Come on now. Give it back.
[goes to grab badge and ends up flipping over, then stands up with a gun pulled out]
Washburn: Hand it over cabbie!
Belle: Whoa, man! Be cool!
Washburn: Be cool? I had to flip and pull this out of my ankle holster! Now gimme that and shush!
[goes to grab badge, he doesn't get it and Belle gets the gun too]
Washburn: Ah!
Belle: Ha. Yeah! How do you like me to point it at you!

Movie Connections:

Features Crash Team Racing (1999) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Battle of Bongo Hill

Very Silly, But I Laughed a Lot

A stupid detective that is not a good driver uses a terrific taxi driver, who dreams to be a pilot of racing car, to chase four bank robbers in a BMW. With this simple story line, "Taxi" is a very silly movie, but I laughed a lot. The greatest attraction for me was certainly the debut of the Brazilian top model Gisele Bündchen as "actress". But indeed Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon carry this dumb, ridiculous and absurd story in a very funny way. Another funny situation for the Brazilian viewers is to hear Ana Cristina de Oliveira speaking Portuguese with a strong accent from Portugal as if she were Brazilian. I laughed a lot with her pronunciation in Portuguese, which sounds very funny for us. I totally disagree with comments like "the worst movie ever made", probably made by persons without sense of humor as commented by another IMDb user. "Austin Powers" movies, just as an example, are dumber and less funny than "Taxi". If the viewer does not have much expectation about this film, he or she may probably have a good time. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Taxi"