« ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ provokes thought for Hamline student | Main | Heiruspecs demand, seek, gain respect »
October 12, 2004
Frisky frisking scene only redeeming moment in ‘Taxi’
What do you get when you cross a nervous, bumbling momma’s-boy cop with a no-nonsense, balls-to-the-wall bike courierąturnedątaxi driver dreaming of a NASCAR career? Nothing special at all, except for a cameo appearance by Red State favorite Jeff Gordon and one of the hottest patdown scenes in all of cinema history.
In the new movie Taxi, Saturday Night Live star Jimmy Fallon plays a cop with poor driving skills who’s got to get his act together and catch a feisty bank-robbing Brazilian foursome in order to impress his superior officer, who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend.
After he is stripped of his license for blowing a sting operation, Fallon enlists the help of newly licensed taxi driver Queen Latifah and her cabbie-yellow tricked-out Ford Crown Victoria to take down the improbably attractive all-female troupe of professional crooks.
A number of mediocre car chases and awkward racially driven jokes later, and we’ve arrived at the only scene that makes the movie worth watching: the frisk scene. When the Brazilian crooks take a hostage, Fallon’s lieutenant offers herself in exchange. Before escaping with their new hostage, the lead hottie crook takes extra care to check her for weapons and a wire.
Up and down, inside and out I was surprised that this movie was able to hold onto its PG-13 rating, especially considering the character treatment of Fallon’s mother. A chronic alcoholic with a heart of gold, Fallon’s mother lives right next door to him and makes a reference to “Jungle Fever” when her son shows up at the door with Latifah. The character makes both racism and alcoholism fun againčshe’s practically Archie Bunker in a nightgown and curlers with a 64 oz. margarita in hand.
The acting in the film is stagnant, and Fallon’s inane “comedic” mumblings might be endearing to his fans, but they make no sense to this hardened and bitter moviegoer. Latifah’s performance is superficial and overacted. When director Tim Story said “independent, strong woman” Latifah must have heard “angry, violent, and unreasonable.” The plot holes just involving the Transformer qualities of Latifah’s sweet ride could fill a large tome. The plot, though built upon a novel setup, is played strictly by the numbers, replete with predictably timed and most likely focus groupątested gags.
This is not a good movie, and although it has vaguely humorous moments and that one memorable frisktastic scene, there’s really nothing to recommend it. If you happen to be a Jimmy Fallon or Queen Latifah fan, this flick might be serviceable. For everyone else, you would do well to wait until it’s put into heavy rotation on Comedy Central’s summer movie smorgasbord of crappy films no one paid to see in the first place.
Posted by msveum at October 12, 2004 11:54 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)