In linea con l'assassino

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!

Stu Shepherd is in public relations and uses lies and deceit everyday in his job to get things moving. When calling a client from a phone booth in the hope of getting her to a hotel. When he hangs up the phone rings and he answers to what he assumes is a prank call. However the caller reveals more and more about Stu exposing his lies. When Stu tries to leave the caller reveals that he has Stu pinned down with a sniper rifle and the death of a man by the booth proves it. The police arrive and surround Stu while the caller continues his game.

Everyone knows that it had a small budget, a shooting window of just over a week and that it was made years ago and shelved as Farrell's star power increased and real life terrorist attacks and snipers came and went in the media and the mind of the American public. So I'll not dwell on that and instead talk of the film! The pitch was enough to get me interested – `man is held in phone box by sniper' – sounds great! I really wanted to see this film but was put off by the trailer, but not of the films I saw wrong in the trailer were to the detriment of the film as over 80-odd minutes it really runs like a race horse.

Starting with humour and a free-flowing pace it turns sinister early on but keeps the pace. In terms of plot it has many good twists and turns that will keep you interested and on the edge of your seat. The only issue for me was accepting why the sniper was doing it and how he was able to get access to the equipment he would have needed as well as the information – not to mention the WILL to do it! Also little things bugged me, but the film carries itself over these obstacles well enough and reservations are soon forgotten. It sounds simple but the simple ideas work best and, although low on action (sorry, teen boys!) it is driven by dialogue and simply not knowing what will come next.

The direction helps the film by constantly moving and using split screens etc to give the impression that a lot is going on at once – again making the film feel like it has a fast pace. It feels a little gimmicky (especially now that we've had 2 series of 24 doing the same thing) but it works regardless. I wrote in an old review (8mm I think) that I would never pay to see a Joel Schumacher film ever again, and I DIDN'T pay to see Phone Booth! However I was surprised because he didn't ruin it! He did a good job – yes, you heard me! His usual excesses seem to have been controlled by a good producer and editing team and the film works – much to my surprise and relief!

Farrell may not be a bona-fide Hollywood star yet but he takes the task of being onscreen for almost the whole film and runs with it. He makes a comically cruel character someone that reveals himself to be a loser but never loses the audience – and that takes talent. Sutherland's voice on the trailer didn't work for me (too normal and slow) but in the film he is excellent, like the director said, no-one else could have done the role, he is right for it. Whitaker makes up the third lead and he holds his corner well.

It may not be without the odd flaw but this film manages to be simple, gripping and very effective. Well worth a look.

This is the kind of movie that is rare these days. It didn't cost an arm and a leg to make, it stars some good actors and the story line was plausible.

The Hitchcock influence is obvious and the pacing of the film was just right. This is the best work of director Schumacher. The lead could have been played by any yuppie looking actor but Colin Farrell does a good job anyway in a role that puts you in his character's place.

It's hard to make a movie work when it takes place in a confined space with few characters, but when those movies succeed, it shows. And that's how it is with "Phone Booth."

Phone Booth is described as a one location thriller. It delivers on what it's intended to be. The acting by Colin Farrell is very convincing as a person who gets a mysterious phone call regarding knowing everything about him. Keifer Sutherland is great as the mysterious caller. His voice fits perfectly and his delivery is top notch.

For a relatively smaller film, it is never boring. There is enough that occurs and the rest of the supporting cast are also solid.

The suspense and mystery regarding the caller is great and the buildup to the character keeps you on the edge. Somewhat of a confusing ending yet overall this film is highly entertaining and it's short run time works great.

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.