| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Tom Cruise | ... | ||
| Jamie Foxx | ... | ||
| Jada Pinkett Smith | ... | ||
| Mark Ruffalo | ... | ||
| Peter Berg | ... | ||
| Bruce McGill | ... | ||
| Irma P. Hall | ... | ||
| Barry Shabaka Henley | ... | ||
| Richard T. Jones | ... | ||
| Klea Scott | ... |
Fed #1
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| Bodhi Elfman | ... |
Young Professional Man
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| Debi Mazar | ... |
Young Professional Woman
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| Javier Bardem | ... | ||
| Emilio Rivera | ... |
Paco
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| Jamie McBride | ... | ||
LA cabbie Max Durocher is the type of person who can wax poetic about other people's lives, which impresses U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell, one of his fares, so much that she gives him her telephone number at the end of her ride. Although a dedicated man as seen through the efficiency in which he does his work, he can't or won't translate that eloquence into a better life for himself. He deludes himself into believing that his now twelve year cabbie job is temporary and that someday he will own his own limousine service. He even lies to his hospitalized mother that he already owns one, with a further lie that he tells her as such primarily to make her happy, rather than the truth which is that he won't do anything to achieve that dream. One night, Max picks up a well dressed man named Vincent, who asks Max to be his only fare for the evening. For a flat fee of $600, plus an extra $100 if he gets to the airport on time - Vincent wants Max to drive him to five stops ... Written by Huggo
Rather contrived thriller. The most obvious difficulty is why a supposedly professional contract killer would go to the trouble of taking the cab driver hostage in the first place. Why not simply hire a car, change cabs between jobs, or try to do a better job of hiding what you were up to in the first place? As it is, Vincent (Tom Cruise) as the killer ends up with a very reluctant companion who he must know would try to foul things up for him. The only reason is to keep the two characters of the cab driver Max (Jamie Fox) and the killer together, which might make sense as a way of creating dramatic situations but stretches believability. However, if you can get past that, the very clichéd ending and numerous other plot holes, it's not too bad. I'll give it a 7/10 for sheer entertainment.