Taxi

Written and produced by Luc Besson, this car chase caper would like to think of itself as a race-tuned Formula One machine. In fact, it's more like a customised Ford Mondeo with a go-faster stripe and alloy wheels. The B movie plot, flimsy characters and cursory dialogue straddle the white line between computer games and cartoons, and have precious little relationship to reality. The emphasis throughout is on the skilful stunts, the best of which are saved for the final, '70s-style car chase through the streets of Marseilles. Caught red-handed doing 120 mph in a 30 mph limit, taxi driver Daniel (Nacéri) reluctantly teams up with bungling cop Emilien (Diefenthal). The ill-matched buddies try to capture a gang of international bank robbers who always make their getaway in a distinctive red Mercedes. The female characters, meanwhile, just hang around being decorative: sexy police inspector Pétra (Sjöberg) is the object of Emilien's unrequited love; Daniel's girlfriend Lilly (Cotillard) suffers from unrequited lust; and Emilien's mother Camille (Gourary) literally makes the sandwiches.