Product: Taxi (Full Screen Edition) (2004)
Rating: 4.0
QUEEN Latifah reigns supreme!
I must confess, this is the first of Queen Latifah's movies I've watched. I dunno why, but I was convinced I didn't care for her as an actor. I was wrong.Latifah plays Belle, an adrenalin addicted cab driver who's anxious to begin her career as a NYC cabbie in her souped up Ford Crown Victoria, yet despite her female macho outer shell, she's really a romantic softie at heart. Her character, despite being larger then life (come on... how many overweight black females actually ride as a bike courier in NYC?) is also not the typical paper-thin, one dimensional empty shell that so many comedy roles are. And her role perfectly complements the male lead.Jimmy Fallon plays police detective Washburn, and he does such a fantastic job of playing a pathetic little dweeb of a cop that more then once I wanted Latifah to pound his skinny little a@@. The comedy kicks in when Washburn, who drives worse then a 90 year old grandma, looses his license and gets a demotion. He manages to hook up with Belle and her crown vic, and together the two unwilling partners must team up to stop a band of bank robbers.Okay, so there's nothing deep or profound about the movie, but, Latifah and Fallon are talented comedians and together they make for a lot of laughs and a fun ninety minutes.Enjoy!