If you’re a fan of Queen Latifah, NASCAR and high speed chases, then this movie is definitely worth seeing in theatres.  If you’re not a fan of any of the above, you better wait for the video release.

Following a high-speed bike ride through the streets—and everything else—of New York City, we meet Belle (Queen Latifa), who is just finishing up her last day as a bicycle courier, as she has finally earned her taxi license.  It’s not long before we learn that Belle’s taxi is a little more than just “souped-up,” as it converts from a standard Ford Crown Victoria to a NASCAR-styled taxi.

Enter Detective Washburn, a cop who’s totaled not less than three cars at the expense of the NYPD, because he can’t drive.  With his driver’s license revoked, he hails a cab to a bank robbery—Belle’s cab.  With the robbers fleeing on his arrival, he demands that Belle pursue them.

The rest of the film has Washburn and Belle on and off the tail of the robbers who continue to go after more banks, while Washburn and Belle continue to be told to leave the case to the FBI.

Director Tim Story (Barbershop) superbly whisks you through the streets and buildings (such as Grand Central Station) of New York with fast-paced, high-speed pursuits between Belle’s NASCAR-ready Crown Vic cab and the robbers’ souped-up BMW.  However when it comes to some of the slower moments in the film, your attention tends to drift.

Queen Latifah (Bringing Down The House) did a fantastic job of retaining her character and trying to keep the film funny even in places where the script tended to lag. 

Jimmy Fallon (SNL; Almost Famous) was all right as the bumbling Detective Washburn who couldn’t get behind the wheel of a car without hitting anything, but the character overall was written somewhat weakly in a vain attempt to make him seem funny.  Despite this he did manage to get a few laughs from the audience.

Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue) was a pretty good background character who kept setting up moments to ask Belle to marry him, only to be stood up by problems beyond Belle’s control.

Jennifer Esposito (Don’t Say A Word) was also a pretty good background character as Washburn’s boss and former girlfriend who had to now keep coming down on him for his screw-ups.