Fun ride in new French action comedy 'Taxi'

Joko E.H. Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

It's hard not to like this lightweight French action/comedy. The story is so harmless -- it may not be what you would expect from a French film since audiences here are only familiar with the more thrilling La Femme Nikita.

However, everything about the movie is so likeable. And audiences are likely to be more familiar with it than with similar movies produced by Hollywood because there is almost nothing in the film that has been glossed, like those in others about fast cars, such as The Fast and the Furious and Stallone's vehicle, Driven, currently being screened here.

While The Fast and the Furious poses as a hip, high-tech fast cars movie that attracts younger audiences, it also alienates others. Driven, on the other hand, is simply a misfire, as it uses elements to attract young people (including the use of techno music, which ends up annoying) but still uses style, which went out of date many years back.

Taxi, however, does not pretend to be anything but light entertainment and succeeds in that exactly.

The movie is also refreshingly good-natured. Some of the jokes in the movie work well, though old-fashioned, and have been used a lot in other movies. Most of them are simply silly.

The film opens very well and does a good job in introducing its characters.

Former pizza delivery man Daniel Morales (Samy Naceri) has been out of a job and it seems that luck has begun to take his side, as he gets a job at the city's taxi company.

Daniel is also blessed with having an understanding girlfriend in Lilly who, while being frustrated, is also very understanding each time Daniel has to go to work when they start to make love. Daniel promises to get back in an hour but never does.

Meanwhile, Emilien (Fridiric Diefenthal) is a police officer who keeps trying to get a driver's license but never passes the driving test, despite the fact that he always wins when he plays car rally championship on his computer.

After Emilien's mother becomes his passenger one day, Daniel gets to know Emilien and, as always happens in buddy-cop films, they do not get along very well at the start.

Meanwhile, the police department has been trying to catch a gang of bank robbers that always targets Mercedes sedans.

Since Daniel has many friends on the street, including pizza delivery guys who always peform stunts on their motorbikes while doing their jobs, Emilien persuades him to help the force.

But working together is not easy for either side, as Daniel's friends used to make the police crazy by speeding and the police have sworn to get them.

Without much effort, you will begin to notice that most of the cars in the film have been made by Peugeot. Fortunately, there are a lot of good car chases and stunts.

Some might expect more from a film that was scripted by Luc Besson, who has directed and written great works such as La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element.

He reportedly wrote the screenplay for the movie very quickly when he had time off from big projects, and then coproduced it on a small budget. Surprisingly, the film has been a commercial success, spawning a sequel and another one in the making. This is no surprise, as the film, though forgettable, is also thoroughly enjoyable.

Taxi, **1/2 out of four stars Comedy/Action, 86 minutes Starring Samy Naceri, Fridiric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard, Manuela Gourary Directed by Girard Pirhs An ARP Selection, Cofimage 9, TF1 Films Productions, Le Studio Canal+, Studio Images 4 Production In French with Indonesian subtitles