Vastly, Vastly, Vastly, Vastly Overrated

Rating: 5/10 (25 September 2005)

Okay, so I'm 30 years late seeing Taxi Driver for the first time. But I find that I didn't miss much. Aside from watching Robert DeNiro in his first role, I thought there wasn't much to like in this movie --and I'm not just talking about the violence. The "romance" between DeNiro's character and Cybill Shepard's sleek young professional is improbable to the nth degree, and even a clueless shmuck like DeNiro wouldn't be stupid enough to take a high class girl to a porno film on his first date. I suppose the viewer is expected to infer the reasons for every other unexplained development in the movie: DeNiro's purchase of an arsenal of weapons larger than some U.S. units are equipped with in Iraq, his sudden urge to rescue Jodie Foster's child prostitute, the approach to the candidate for president (couldn't get close enough to kill him, I guess), the final scene driving Cybill Shepard's character in his taxi (a dream sequence while he's still in the hospital or after he's died?), the letter of thanks from the parents of the child prostitute (also a dream sequence? also after he's died?). Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn. As for the direction, if Scorcese hadn't done better work than this, he'd be an obscure footnote. I expected to like this movie a lot more than I did.