Taxi Genre: Comedy Rated: PG-13 Directed by: TIM STORY Written by: LUC BESSON, BEN GARANT, THOMAS LENNON, JIM KOUF Starring: QUEEN LATIFAH, JIMMY FALLON Released by: 20th Century Fox In Short: Laugh-out-loud lines and some great moments live up to the fantastic trailer, but they sort of lose their steam after about an hour.

Good Cop, Baaad Driver
Prove You Really Don’t Want to Drive in New York City
By Andrew Bender

Taxi has a case of Fantastic Trailer Syndrome. We adored the trailer. Queen Latifah was hilarious, Jimmy Fallon silly and hapless and the car crashes were sooo cool. When we saw the entire movie, we loved the same things, but while there were still plenty of chuckles, they sort of lost their steam after about an hour.

Latifah’s Belle Williams understands the attraction of a big engine. She starts the movie as a bike messenger (which should tell you all you need to know), and when she gets her own taxi medallion she tricks out her car so that it can get from Times Square to Kennedy Airport in less time than you spend in the shower.

Enter Detective Andy Washburn (Jimmy Fallon), a cop with a driving problem. It seems he can’t even be in the vicinity of a car without causing a massive pile-up (one of the movie’s best moments). After his license is suspended, he hops in Belle’s taxi and together they chase bad guys.

Actually, they’re bad girls. Very. Bad. Girls. From Brazil. Led by Victoria’s Secret model Gisele Bündchen, they are experts at the art of the quick change: from bank robbers to bikini models to racing car pit crew. Every teenage boy’s dream.

And that seems to be the point of Taxi—nothing too challenging or threatening. Although it’s based on an original story by edgy French director Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita), it's morphed into something the whole family can support.

There are some laugh-out-loud lines (our favorite by Latifah, stepping into an economy car: “Open the door! I don’t want to get Daewoo on my hands.”) and some great moments, but like that taxi ride you took yesterday or last year, how much of it will you remember later?