The surprising thing, however, is that "Taxi" started out with all the ingredients for a decent movie. Jimmy Fallon is genuinely talented, as evidenced by his roles in segments such as "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live." Queen Latifah has proved herself a versatile and legitimate actress through roles in "Chicago" and "Bringing Down the House." "Taxi" tries to rely on these two names alone to cover up the gaping plot holes in the storyline, which I would be willing to go along with, had it actually succeeded. Both actors are endearing by themselves, but they don't work together well enough to make a good "unlikely duo." The chemistry between Fallon and Latifah is ruined by trite dialogue; I am sure that the movie would have been a hundred times funnier if they had been allowed some room for improvisation. All spontaneity is sucked out of these talented actors by a script that hides their talent and wastes their-and the audience's-time.
Oddly enough, the movie is a remake of a wildly popular French movie written by esteemed director Luc Besson ("The Fifth Element"). However, the remake can't seem to make up its mind as to whether it wants to be an action movie or a comedy. Fallon plays Washburn, a bumbling New York City cop who is the joke of his division and manages to screw up every assignment, mostly because he absolutely cannot drive. It doesn't help that his boss in the police force is his ex-girlfriend who eventually decides that she has no room for incompetence on her force and revokes Washburn's license. This leaves Washburn with no option but to take a taxi to the scene of a bank robbery, leading to his encounter with Belle (Latifah). Belle is an experienced cab driver who dreams of one day becoming a NASCAR driver. Somehow her cab, with the push of a few buttons, morphs into a souped-up turbo-charged machine.
The movie gets even more ludicrous after this already ridiculous start. The bank robbers turn out to be a gang of Brazilian supermodels, led by Gisele Bundchen, who says little and is clearly in the movie only as eye candy. It is never clear why the models, who drive a gorgeous red BMW, need to keep robbing banks, or what the money is going to be used for. I guess that supplying this information was not as important to the moviemakers as the endless and tired car chase scenes that didn't entertain me so much as make me want to buy a sexy sports car.
The only thing that was somewhat worth cheering during the entire movie is that the sassy and smart Latifah is pitted against these scantily clad supermodels, and that she wins in the end. Even Fallon's boss in the movie is a woman who holds her own in a profession dominated by men. But this movie never pretends to be about strong women, and there are plenty of gratuitous shots of Gisele and her Victoria's Secret cohorts to cancel out whatever positive effect the aforementioned might have had.
Many of the original aspects of this movie that had the potential to be funny fall apart because they rely on gags that have been seen too many times in other movies, such as when Fallon attempts to get out of a parallel parking space. There are a few moments worth a chuckle, which mostly occur when you can see the personality of the actors shine through. Fallon and Latifah share a sappy scene where she gives him the "courage to drive well," but strangely, he is only able to do so while belting out a completely out-of-tune rendition of Natalie Cole's "This Will Be." Another highlight of the movie involves the two stars, a sketchy spare parts yard outside the city, impending danger and a tank of laughing gas. But these hilarious moments are sadly few and far between. While not totally unwatchable, the movie will only leave the audience with disappointment after it finally wraps up with a neatly packaged happy ending.