From Taxi Driver to Night On Earth, taxicabs have proven to be fertile ground for filmmakers. Will Kern isn't a filmmaker, but his experiences as a cabbie did inspire the long-running Chicago play Hellcab. Now, Hellcab has been translated to the screen with a new script (courtesy of Kern) and a new title (courtesy of some bonehead). Chicago Cab is basically a day in the life of one particularly put-upon cab driver (Paul Dillon, reprising his stage role) as he deals with weird fare after weird fare during the city's busy Christmas season. Though the movie, perhaps predictably, is rife with recognizable cameos (including Gillian Anderson, Laurie Metcalf, Julianne Moore, and an eerie John Cusack), the film belongs to Dillon, a sad soul whose unique profession has him picking up a distraught rape victim one minute and a happy architect the next. Though darkly comic, Chicago Cab's mood is resoundingly somber. The husband-and-wife directing team of Mary Cybulski and John Tintori isn't going to win any awards from Chicago's tourism board. The city they depict is an empty, dark, dangerous, cold shell of a town that sucks the life out of its inhabitants with every puff of frosty air. The theatrical nature of Kern's script is actually enhanced by the camera, which, unlike the stage, can draw back and reveal just how little a single taxi is in a huge city. This meditation on loneliness is probably a bad idea for those already depressed, but it's perfect for those bah-humbugs dreading the Christmas spirit that awaits on the other side of autumn.