Taxi

Taxi (15) Luc Besson wrote the script for Taxi in 30 days while waiting for Columbia to green-light The Fifth Element. Small wonder, then, that this chase movie has all the depth of a paddling pool. But if it's wild stunts, non-stop action and knockabout humour you're after, you could do a lot worse than this Marseilles-based motorised mayhem.

Pizza-delivery guy Daniel (Samy Naceri) is thrilled when he receives his driver permit, and is soon racing around town in a turbo- charged, specially modified chariot. However, his need for speed lands him in hot water when he picks up Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal), a cop who has just failed his driving test on the eighth attempt.

Emilien has a proposition for Daniel: help him foil a ruthless band of German bank robbers and he'll let him keep his licence. Daniel reluctantly agrees, enlisting his fellow cabbies to track down the felons.

Their efforts are hampered by romantic complications involving Daniel's girlfriend Lilly (Marion Cotillard), Emilien's ball-busting superior Petra (Emma Sjoberg), and his overly possessive mother Camille (Manuela Gourary).

Gerard Pires, who broke his arm 10 days before shooting began and was forced to direct the film from his hospital bed, handles this fast-paced crime caper with great elan.

Neil Smith

Copyright 1999
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