Taxi (2004)

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

Director:

Tim Story

Writers:

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

Stars:

Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Gisele Bündchen

3 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Mrs. Washburn
Christian Kane	...	Agent Mullins
Boris McGiver	...	Franklin
Adrian Martinez	...	Brasilian Man
Joe Lisi	...	Mr. Scalia
Bryna Weiss	...	Mrs. Scalia
GQ	...	Stopwatch Messenger

Storyline

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 ...

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Plot Keywords:

woman | united states of america | usa | driving a car | car | 

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Taglines:

Take a Ride on the Wild Side.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality and brief violence

Details

Country:

USA France

Language:

English Portuguese Spanish

Release Date:

6 October 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

New York Taxi

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,029,832, 10 October 2004, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$36,611,066

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,895,435

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, EuropaCorp, Robert Simonds Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 104 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ingrid Vandebosch, one of the female robbers in this film, is married to Jeff Gordon, who has an uncredited cameo in this film.

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Goofs

When the captain shows Washburn the newspaper, it features the mugshot with the fake mustache on, but after crashing, he took it off and threw it on the floor.

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Quotes

Washburn: You ask me where I'm from? What part am I from? Eeh... What part of Havanna? You know... ah... around the corner of... eum... Castro... Street.

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are shown during the closing credits

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Morgan Freeman/Kesha/Tweedy (2014)

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Soundtracks

Pass the Courvoisier (Part II)
Written by Sean 'Diddy' Combs (as Sean Combs), Jermaine Denny, Bernard Edwards, Q-Tip (as Kamaal Fareed), Dinco D. (as James Jackson), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (as Muhammad Ali Shaheed Jones), Dominick Lamb, Sandy Linzer, Denny Randell, Nile Rodgers, Phife Dawg (as Malik Taylor), Mystikal (as Michael Tyler), Jamal Woolard, Chad Hugo (as Charles Hugo), Pharrell Williams and Busta Rhymes (as Trevor Smith)
Performed by Busta Rhymes featuring Sean 'Diddy' Combs (as P. Diddy) and Pharrell Williams
Busta Rhymes courtesy of J. Records
P. Diddy courtesy of Bad Boy Entertainment
Pharrell Williams courtesy of Virgin Records

User Reviews

A cheap rip-off of a classic french comedy

Avoid this film at all costs! This is just a very very cheap remake of the french movie by the same name. Being a big fan of that Taxi, I was intrigued to see what the Yanks had done with it. Watching it was painful, the only reason I watched till the end was to see how low they were going to go with this film.

Queen Latifa's performance is the only redeeming aspect of this film, who does her best with an unoriginal, crass and cheap script. The best scenes are direct rip-offs of the original film and Jimmy Fallon is wasted on a one dimensional ridiculous character.

Go see the original french film and give this one as wide a berth as you can!