The Caller

An ostensibly successful man receives a mysterious business call. Lured by the money offered, he accepts the short-term temporary job. He determines it is necessary to disguise his true identity to perform his mission, but in doing so he loses the faith of the caller. The caller cannot clearly explain what it is he hopes for from the arrangement, which jeopardizes the partnership. Apparently, he expects people to read his mind. The audience is tasked with explaining with rationalizing why that is so.

This is one of those films that never gets off the mark. It has an interesting premise, but then it's characters stop communicating. Everything they say has a constipated double intent. Some of them don't know what is going on and, unfortunately, neither do we. So we get all this talk, passing by the receptors. I really don't understand all the motivations. Do we choose to die because we are tired of the game? Perhaps. I'm kind of an embrace life guy and if we are going to go out, do it in a blaze of glory. Not lying on the edge of the bay. Who are these guys and why do they invest so much effort to complete their job. Espionage and all its implications are fine when we are seeking information steeped in layers of cover up. Here we have a man resolved to die. Is there more to this. The past is revealed but is that a reason for the motivations here? I just didn't fined myself compelled to go ahead.

This was really quite a good movie, but not necessarily one for "consumers" of movies not accustomed to dialog between characters, or those who expect the meaning to reside primarily in the plot. In this film, the minute details of who is trying to kill the protagonist and exactly why, is purposely left vague.

This is a character study, and examines the fundamental truth, that each of us is isolated in the universal moments of their life, such as death. Simply sharing that moment with someone, confirms the profound meaning of the human connection.

I also appreciate that this film presents mature actors in an way that does not reduce them to stereotype. Other cultures, still portray a broad spectrum of characters in their films, allowing different age groups and generations to interact in meaningful ways. It's refreshing to see this in an American film.

In summing up, I think this movie has more meaning for those more than half-way through their journey in life.

I always think to myself , 'if I can bear to watch a movie 5 times or more then it's not so bad', and this movie was for me extremely watchable but mainly because of the great actors involved, Frank Langella and Elliott Gould. I suppose if it had been made with lesser talent, a contrived story like this would have been hard to take, but it is interesting how the two men come together after 60 plus years, in order for both to seek closure from a destroyed childhood in Nazi occupied France.

It's as mysterious and compelling as any other drama I've seen of this sort. Laura Harring, who plays Langella's lover, is one of the most sensuous actresses around, she's perfect in the part, as enigmatic and subtle as Elliott Gould and Frank Langella.

This is not worth the electricity it takes to play it in a DVD player. I've seen thousands of movies and this with out a doubt ranks down there way at the bottom. Please save your time and just take a nap or something; I've seen home movies better than this. Now, the actors were okay; the story line was horrible. It was so slow. The scenery was ordinary, the traffic was as good as I've seen. How can you mess up cars and buildings in the background? When this was made, time would have been much better spent cleaning out drawers or moping the kitchen. It's just about as interesting as watching grass grow. Do yourself a great big favor and think of something else to entertain yourself.