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

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [United States] Official site [Brazil]

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

Jimmy Fallon has joked on The Tonight Show about how he would come back to the series if the next installment went in space and call it Space Taxi.

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Goofs

When Washburn races to get Belle to the hospital Marta is at first sitting behind the driver's seat. However, in the next shot she is seated behind the passenger's seat and Belle is seated behind the driver.

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Quotes

Washburn: Men are like cats, ya know? Sure, we'll play with a ball of yarn, unless you want us to play with the ball of yarn. Trick is, hide the ball of yarn.
[laughs]
Washburn: But don't hide it where you can't find it, ya know? Like, 'Hey, what's the ball of yarn doing in the fridge?' Whatever. Ya know what I'm saying?

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes are shown during the closing credits

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: Episode #1.1 (2009)

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Soundtracks

The Cisco Kid
Written by Thomas Allen (as Sylvester Allen), Harold R. Brown, Morris D. Dickerson,
Lonnie Jordan (as Leroy L. Jordan), Charles W. Miller, Lee Oskar and Howard Scott
Performed by War
Courtesy of Avenue Records / Far Out Productions, Inc.

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!