Steve West
Unfortunately I only caught this movie part of the way through on TV, but this movie piqued my interest immediately. Having driven taxi's myself for 13 months straight back in 2000/01 I always like to see what it's like for cab drivers elsewhere, how the driver responds to situations etc..The Christmas eve I spent behind the wheel I got probably less than one passenger an hour, but I noticed that the atmosphere was definitely different from the typical weekday/weekend. So to busy Chicago, where the bald-headed driver is ferrying around a wide variety of people. He handles most things in a relaxed and fairly unstressed manner, and shows concern for others, but unfortunately is in that place in life which would see him earning his way by being behind the wheel of a taxi.It looks like taxi driving is basically the same thing no matter where you are, mainly ferrying around city folk, the carless people and those who are intoxicated to varying degrees. I've felt the fear that the taxi driver felt when he picked up John Cusack's character, when the person won't tell you where they want to stop off. Are they going to do a runner? is there a dead end around the next corner where five guys with clubs lie in wait? Probably 99 times out of 100 it's a false alarm, but the 100th time...At the end of the film I sympathised with the cabbie, where he's worn out, he's got the echoes of dozens of conversations in his head, and he's had some good times and some bad times. And back at it again the next day...
LordBibingtonTheThird
What an Exellent Film.Paul dillon was exellent.This Film is one of my favourite films.I spent 70 English pounds,on getting one of the origional promo posters,thats how much i like it.Alot different than all the junk that comes out of hollywood,and alot better.Watch it!
Frankjwilliams
I saw this movie around Christmas 2002, it was about 02.00 am, I thought I'd make one more walk around the channels. Then I saw a guy in a cab on BBC, and the colors of the movie seemed okay -You know, when a movie is really dumb, or bad, it often has intense and bright colors-. I wasn't doing anything at the moment, so I left it on. Then I became more and more interested in it, and decided to turn of the computer and focus only on the movie. I think this is a movie that truly represents the spirit of Christmas, although I am still not sure what the hell that may be, I'm sure this is it. Paul Dillon, whom I did not know beforehand plays his character brilliantly. He's a quiet guy, who somehow got into the job of cabdriver. He has to work on Christmas-eve and he gets all these strange people in his cab who tell him about what happened to them lately, and that's it! Fantastic. From there you see him trying to say the right things, and that maybe is the most beautiful thing about this movie. The movie is really easy going, you can just sit, do nothing, just watch and let it pass by. Therefore, when watched alone, late at night, at Christmas-time, this is the perfect movie for the moment, and deserves 10 out of 10 points.
screamer-13
Though this film may be pretty light on story, it raises some thought-provoking situations and might even make the viewer reflect on their own life for a brief moment just like the main character does in the final scenes. The material is deftly handled and there is a gradually increasing sense of unease throughout the film that something terrible is going to happen sooner or later in the cab. Well, I don't want to spoil it; something does happen, just not exactly what we might have been expecting. An interesting twist to the tale. I must say Paul Dillon was very good. I spent the whole film weighing up his character and trying to decide whether he was a bit slow, extremely reserved, or terminally depressed. In the end not everything is revealed about his character; it's kind of left up to the viewer's interpretation. Nice. He was certainly unlike anyone I've ever known. It's just a pity that some of the episodes in the cab were a bit flat and didn't gel too well with each other. Maybe with a slightly more experienced team behind the scenes, and the same general premise and character arc, this could have been a bigger hit.
AD
