AMERICAN filmmakers continue to plunder the rich pickings of Europe and Asia for potential remakes. Taxi is a case in point.

Luc Besson's 1998 smash hit, which became the largest grossing film in the history of French cinema, has been souped up into a culture-clash buddy comedy set amidst the gridlock of New York City.

Bicycle courier-turned-cab driver Belle Williams (Queen Latifah) has spent 10 years and countless dollars transforming her distinctive yellow car into a lean, mean racing machine.

She quickly earns a reputation as the fastest cab driver in the entire city, a claim to fame that proves invaluable when overeager cop Andy Washburn (Jimmy Fallon) commandeers her vehicle to chase a gang of bank robbers.

Initiating her vehicle's hidden turbo-boost features, Belle helps Andy to almost capture his prey but the high speed pursuit ends in disaster: he is stripped of his badge and her car is impounded as evidence by zealous FBI Agent Mullins (Christian Kane), who is in charge of the case.

Andy begs his boss, Lieutenant Marta Robbins (Jennifer Esposito), for a second chance, but her hands are tied.

Determined to repair his tattered reputation, Andy joins forces with Belle to capture the robbers, led by feisty getaway driver Vanessa (Leonardo DiCaprio's on-off girlfriend Giselle Bundchen), in the act.

But first, there is the small matter of sneaking Belle's taxi out of the pound.

Taxi is a mildly diverting, fast paced ride, feeding off the energy of Latifah. Her comic timing is impeccable as ever, which is more than can be said for Fallon, whose pratfalls often miss the target. However, the two leads catalyse a pleasantly fractious screen chemistry, including a stand-out sequence involving laughing gas.

Action sequences are well orchestrated, perhaps a little too slickly; whereas the original Taxi had a real sense of speed and danger to the car chases, the American version plays relatively safe.

See it at the UCI