Phone Game

Colin Farrell is a self-professed star publicist with an attitude to boot. Watch 81 minutes of gut-wrenching nerve-wracking dialog reduce a pretentious "kiss my ass" punk into an enervated and regretful reprobate. Farrell is simply awesome in portraying the gravity of the situation. "The Caller"'s voice is absolutely worth a mention. Calm, creepy and authoritative! Something different and the movie would have fallen flat on its 'flab less' anterior. Sutherland plays 'The Caller', manning a high profile sniper rifle, while he thrusts honesty upon Stu Shephard (Colin Farrell). Frankly, I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen for a second.

Ebert himself was marvelled by the creativity of "Phone Booth". Why! It wasn't without good reason! A gaudy character stuck inside a phone booth in a busy locale, some good camera work, bunch of apartment windows, a psycho sniper and 10 days of excellent filming supported by a 'worth a mention' cast easily will manage to get into a good bundle of "top ten" lists. Fabulous entertainment and a good display of creativity. Graham Bell is still aiding marvels, I guess!

Have you ever seen a movie that you would actually pay money to watch more than once? What if I told you that this film had a setting of only one main location, two main actors and three supporting cast members? While these elements don't make up what a classic movie sounds like on paper, add director Joel Schumacher (Bad Company, 8mm) into the mix, along with screenwriter Larry Cohen, who had this story handed down to him by Alfred Hitchcock himself about 30 years ago, and you have the perfect blend of blackmail, violence and extortion: Phone Booth. The story begins by showing a glimpse into the life of Stu Shepard (Daredevil's Colin Farrell). Stu is a New York hustler that people love to hate. He is egotistical, two-faced to everyone he knows and does what he can for personal gratification. He even fantasizes about cheating on his wife Kelly (Pitch Black's Radha Mitchell) and the object of that desire is Pamela McFadden (Dawson Creek's Katie Holmes). Pam is a young actress trying to get her first break, while Stu has been grooming her for the big time. To avoid having his calls to Pam appear on his cellular phone bill, Stu calls her from the lone phone booth left in the heart of NYC. However, things would be different on this day. Upon hanging up, he receives a call that would turn his whole world upside down. The caller (24's Kiefer Sutherland) is a sniper, who has been targeting high-profile underhanded suits, just like Stu. He has a few simple rules so that Stu does not meet the same fate that two others had before him: don't leave the booth, don't tell anyone who he's talking to, and most importantly, don't hang up. To prove his seriousness, the caller shoots and kills a pimp who tries to physically remove Stu from the booth for taking too much time with his call. This, as expected, does not help matters, and the fallen pimp's hookers now believe it was indeed Stu who committed the murder. Soon, the NYPD and numerous media outlets are covering this serious situation. Things become increasingly difficult for Stu Shepard as Kelly and Pam both show up. In the meantime, the caller continues to play various mind games, while the sympathetic NYPD Captain Ramey (Twilight Zone's Forest Whitaker) tries to solve the issue. During all of this, Stu tries to maintain his sanity and not risk any more lives. His lies no longer matter. As a result, he must now search his soul, discover himself and attempt to outsmart the caller, taking the game to a whole new level. The cinematography is outstanding. Schumacher uses the right angle for every shot, and manages to keep everyone's attention with quick pans and abrupt cuts. In the end, the 80-minute movie seems longer but not because it is boring. The biggest payoff comes with the twist ending that changes the film's outcome within sixty seconds. There was not one bad performance in Phone Booth. Farrell's ability to convert his Irish brogue to a Brooklyn drawl makes his performance as Bullseye in Daredevil look like a child's school play when compared to the Broadway-level of acting he manages here. While Mitchell and Holmes did not have lengthy parts, their roles added just enough to the story and they managed to perform up to the standards of their characters. Forest Whitaker was a surprisingly great addition to the cast and his role as a sympathetic cop is one that's not often seen, and should thus be welcomed. However, all of these actors are outshined by Kiefer Sutherland, who ends up being extremely creepy and one of the best antagonists in recent movie history by just using his voice. Will this win Best Picture at next year's Academy Awards? It probably won't. However, with a great story, top-notch directing and a cast with great chemistry, what more could you ask for? Out of a possible five stars, I give this the limit of five with desires to go even higher. While I would go see it again and again, not everyone has the same tastes. However, I would put down the $8 for a ticket to see the flick at least once. If nothing else, it will make you stop and think: the next time you enter a phone booth, just who will be watching?

I only looked at this because a friend loaned it to me so, at zero cost, what could I lose? Well, it was a lot better than I anticipated. Oddly, even though it's only 80 minutes long, I think this could have been better with about 10 minutes chopped off. It starts to repeat itself too much near the end. You have to remember, almost the whole film takes place within a phone booth!

Colin Farrell does a super job playing a sleazy guy held captive in the phone booth by a threatening sniper-caller. The story, although simple, holds your attention because there is great suspense, innovative camera-work, an involving story that hooks you in pretty fast and some great sound. I hope you have a surround sound system because the caller's (Keifer Sutherland) voice on the other end of the line is something to hear!

There is a big moral message in this film, too, about doing the right thing and paying for your sins, which Farrell sure did. It was really refreshing to hear that message, effectively told. Maybe some of us need a sniper to get the message across, but I hope not!

Are there holes in this story? Sure, but it's still good and has a cool ending. The only warning I would give readers here is the language: this is a very profane film with Farrell going overboard on the f-word. If that offends you, then stay out of this phone booth; otherwise, it's pretty entertaining

Director Joel Schumacher preserves his reputation with a script by Larry Cohen about personal morals and hopefully the truth providing some kind of redemption. This is a white knuckle nerve wrecker about a self-serving publicist(Colin Farrell)making the mistake of his life by answering a public telephone. On the other end of the phone is a self empowered mad man(Kiefer Sutherland) inflicting demands on the fast talking, fast thinking publicity dealer who just happened to be walking by the phone booth he passes every day. The mystery voice on the phone demands the publicist to stay in the phone booth until he tells his wife(Radha Mitchell)and the TV watching public of his cheating, lying and making use of others. Of course behind the demanding voice is a sharpshooter that is not afraid to pull the trigger. The senior officer on the scene(Forest Whitaker)tries to make sense of the situation while fighting back thoughts of his own past personal problems. At least 90% of this thriller is made up of witty, threatening and revealing banter between Farrell and Sutherland. And talk about a clever twist to end this flick. Also of note in the cast are: Katie Holmes, Richard T. Jones and Paula Jai Parker. Think twice about answering that ringing phone.

Anyone who doubts that people are as easily programmable as Pavlov's pets need look no further Graham Bell's little box. While most of us generally don't start salivating at the sound of a ringing phone, few people (unless they work for a software help desk) can resist the urge to answer one. Pray that the darkest force that dials your number is a telemarketer.

For Stu Shephard, sincerity is little more than a fuzzy concept. A shady publicist, his life consists of spinning interconnecting webs of lies to further the careers of clients and raise his stature. In his spare time he enjoys abusing his assistant, and ignoring his wife. Stu is, is also determined to give an impressionable young actress a test run on the casting couch. When he enters the one functioning pay phone in a ten-block radius in the hopes of setting up a liaison, the phone rings. It turns out to be Stu's conscience on the line. With a sniper rifle aimed at Stu's head.

When you take into account that `Phone Booth' was filmed in just ten days, on a limited budget with a dearth of special effects, one principle actor and a single venue you could be forgiven for questioning the potential success of this film. The original November 2001 release date might give one pause - films that sit on the shelf usually do so for a reason - read `straight to video'. In this instance the studio wanted to wait until Farrell was more familiar to moviegoers. He achieved this with a little film called `Minority Report' (the name of his co-star escapes me at the moment...). `Phone Booth's' new release date had to be pushed back once again after the sniping episodes in Washington. Some things are worth the wait.

While he stole the spotlight as the maniacal hit man in `Daredevil', Farrell is faced with a different animal in `Phone Booth', an 80-minute soliloquy which lives or dies on his performance (several A-list stars walked away from the project for this very reason). Reminiscent of his much-lauded turn in `Tigerland', Farrell confirms that he isn't a one trick pony, proffering a wide-ranging display of emotions, from cocky to cathartic without straying into soap opera or comic territory. He delivers his lines with a solid fluidity rare among his peers, no simple feat when one takes into account that he's suppressing a harsh brogue. Farrell also demonstrates a presence, beyond mere charisma - his good looks can only inspire interest for so long - that draw the viewer into the story.

While the supporting cast - Katie Holmes as the naive ingenue and Forrest Whitaker as the good cop - fulfill their purpose, it is Keifer Sutherland who takes up what little slack there is. While the audience doesn't get to see Sutherland, he is amply menacing as the cold, otherworldly voice on the other end of the phone. The audience is never privy to who he is (`Just call me Bob') or what his motives are, but it is inconsequential - he sees all, knows all, and is clearly in charge. Unlike S&M, there are no safe words. And for a control freak like Stu nothing could be more terrifying.

Although tied to a static location, deft camera work provides action, perspective and mood with such techniques as quick pans, compressed zooming, and picture in picture sequences, while careful not to cross the gimmickry line . Enhanced sound editing bolsters the visuals: ringing phones are jarring, Bob's quietly booming voice is unsettling, and the sound of a round being chambered is deafening.

`Phone Booth' could easily have been a quirky novelty flick that played well amongst the art house set. Thanks to Farrell's performance it makes for good mainstream cinema (normally an oxymoron) and may actually make a few top ten lists.