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PILOT REVIEW: Taxi Brooklyn

TAXI BROOKLYN












Starring: Chyler Leigh, Jacky Ido, James Colby, Jose Zuniga, Jennifer Esposito, Bill Heck, Ally Walker, Raul Casso

Based on the film "Taxi" written by Luc Besson
Developed for television by Gary Scott Thompson, Stephen Tolkin, & Franck Ollivier
Written by Gary Scott Thompson, Directed by Olivier Megaton

Taxi Brooklyn is a new comedy-drama series based on the 1998 French film "Taxi" (which was remade into the 2004 Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah movie of the same name). In this incarnation, Caitlin "Cat" Sullivan (Chyler Leigh) is a cop who doesn't always play by the rules. She enlists the help of a taxi driver (and French fugitive) Leo Romba (Jacky Ido) to help her solve the death of her father.

THE GOOD: This show got a little better as the pilot went on. There were some funny interactions between Leigh and Ido and the chemistry between them is pretty good. The Brooklyn setting keeps the pace up and I really do enjoy Chyler Leigh in the lead role. While her part is a little bit cliched (rogue cop with revenge on her agenda), she plays it convincingly.

THE BAD: I don't really feel like we got to know any of the other characters that well besides Cat and Leo. The group of other cops and detectives all sort of ran together while Cat's mom (Ally Walker) was not too memorable. The first scene had a frenetic camera and it was a turn-off to me because it was dizzy and unnecessary even though I know it was their way of trying to capture the intensity of the scene. And as I said before, the show was full of cop drama cliches, which is not too surprising.

BOTTOM LINE: While I didn't mind Taxi Brooklyn, I don't think I'll keep watching it. There was nothing in it that really hooked me and made me think it would be a worthwhile show to watch this summer. It was fine but ordinary and it will probably be quickly forgotten after the summer of 2014.

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