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 ten 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 (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, who looks mighty fine in Belle's heavily tweaked Ford Crown Victoria.

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.

There is strong support from screen legend Ann-Margret as Andy's eccentric mom, who spends every waking moment in an alcohol-induced daze.

Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bundchen, the on-off girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio, makes a solid acting debut, not that her part requires her to do much more than strike a pose behind the wheel.

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.

Tyres smoke, rubber burns but the film's seatbelt is fastened at all times.

Rating 6/10