Taxi | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Tim Story |
Produced by |
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Screenplay by |
Thomas Lennon Robert Ben Garant Jim Kouf |
Based on |
Taxi by Luc Besson |
Starring |
Queen Latifah Jimmy Fallon Gisele Bündchen Jennifer Esposito |
Music by | Christophe Beck |
Cinematography | Vance Burberry |
Edited by | Stuart Levy |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date
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October 8, 2004 |
Running time
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97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $25 million |
Box office | $68.9 million |
Taxi is a 2004 American remake of the 1998 French film of the same name, starring Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, and Gisele Bündchen. It is directed by Tim Story.
Belle Williams (Queen Latifah) is a talented driver and auto mechanic who dreams of driving in NASCAR. As the film opens, she celebrates her last shift as a bicycle courier after winning her taxi license and beating the shop's record with a new delivery record of 13 minutes and 54 seconds. Although in a happy relationship, she occasionally neglects her boyfriend Jesse (Henry Simmons) and has bestowed much love on her custom-built 1999 Ford Crown Victoria taxicab over the past five years. She skips her dinner date, to install a supercharger that was given to her as a present for her last day.
The next day, her first customer offers her a $100 tip if she can make it to JFK Airport in fifteen minutes. She makes it in 9 minutes and 28 seconds, while almost getting caught speeding on the freeway and through Manhattan. Meanwhile, a group of beautiful women exit the airport, with a man waiting for them.
The action cuts back to New York City where bumbling undercover detective Andy Washburn (Jimmy Fallon) is about to bust a phone card ring from Cuba. He makes up a street name in Havana, which blows his cover, and a gunfight develops. Washburn's partner is wounded in the arm and the Cubans escape. Trying to follow them in his partner's car, he reverses it into a store, killing the detective's parrot. Back at the precinct station, Lt. Marta Robbins (Jennifer Esposito) confiscates his driver's license and demotes him indefinitely to foot patrol duty.
Later, hearing of a bank robbery, Washburn tries to flag down a car in the middle of a street, causing dozens of civilians and their cars to crash into each other, resulting in a major pileup. He flags down a taxicab, which turns out to be Belle's. He commandeers the car which transforms into the street car from earlier. They arrive at the bank just as the four robbers leave in a BMW. Washburn accidentally shoots out one of Belle's windows and they end up cornering the BMW in an alley. The BMW driver cleverly gives Belle the slip, but as the car passes, she recognizes the occupants as the same models from the airport. Their leader is Vanessa (Gisele Bündchen). In a misunderstanding, police arrive and hold up Belle and Washburn.