‘Taxi’ doesn’t drive laughter

Reel Reflections

On the trail of four notorious female bank robbers, a clumsy New York Police Department Officer, Detective Washburn, must turn to daredevil cab driver Belle for a lift in "Taxi."

The two alternate between friendship-building banter and stinging quips, but accomplish little else. "Taxi" is a slow 100 minutes peppered with high-speed chase sequences.

Jimmy Fallon (formerly of "Saturday Night Live"), seems equipped for the role of a bumbling police officer. Sadly, anyone who remembers Fallon’s quips from "SNL" should not see "Taxi." Washburn loses his license and patrol car because of his blundering nature, in the middle of the hunt for bank robbers.

Enter Belle (Queen Latifah, "Chicago") a lunatic with a souped-up taxi cab that would make Vin Diesel drool. Belle spends half of her time making fun of Washburn, and the other half building their friendship. Washburn, for his part, returns Belle’s quips as often as possible — though he frequently drives into things, such as walls and trashcans.

Beyond the droll banter, there is little plot. The highlights of "Taxi" are the shots of car chases through the congested streets of New York City. Unfortunately, the sequences are the only things supporting the flimsy plot. In the aftermath of summer box office hits like "The Bourne Supremacy," the high-speed car chase is overdone. Director Tim Story ("Barbershop") would have done better to cut the banter from "Taxi" and just shown 45 minutes of rapid sequences. The audience would be better off had the camera been steadied during the action scenes — the bobbing and weaving of the camera leaves the audience slightly motion-sick.

"Taxi" straddles the fence between comedy and action movie, falling short of anything substantive. The buddy flick theme of pairing two completely different people together in a stressful environment has lost its appeal. What makes the movie less funny is that Latifah and Fallon are comedic powerhouses — they should be able to carry this film.

Both Fallon and Latifah possess formidable talents, but Latifah fills the screen. Belle has a devil-may-care attitude that Latifah can deliver. Fallon, on the other hand, too frequently mugs for laughs that never come.

The biggest success of the film is the evil bank robber leader, played by Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen. The seductive Bündchen is worth seeing, even if she has little to no dialogue.

In short, go for the Brazilian supermodel, not the plot.