Phone Booth
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring:
Colin Farrell - Stu Shepard
Kiefer Sutherland - The Caller
Forest Whitaker - Captain Ramey
Radha Mitchell - Kelly Shepard
Katie Holmes - Pamela McFadden
Once upon a time, long before there were cell phones which could speed dial, play games, take pictures, and define your personality, there was a device called a phone booth. People would get inside these booths and then use coins to pay for use of a phone. In the age of cell phones, who would use such a contraption? Perhaps people who don't want their wives to see their cell phone records and know they've been flirting with a young actress, which is exactly what wannabe-hot-shot Stu Shepard does. But after hanging up after another flirtatious call, the phone rings and Stu cannot resist the temptation to answer. Unfortunately, the caller happens to be a psycho staring down the scope of a sniper rifle and he doesn't want Stu to leave the booth.
People looked at me strange when I told them that a guy trapped in a phone booth by a sniper was the premise for an 81 minute movie. But if you take a moment, it's actually an interesting idea, and at least it's not some adaptation of some little-seen 70s cop show (you know, SWAT? The film starred Sam Jackson? Michelle Rodriguez? Oliver Martinez? Oliver Martinez. He was the guy who boned Diane Lane in Unfaithful. Nevermind). The trick is keeping the action alive with good direction, cinematography, and acting. However, the anxiousness-level rises when your director is Joel "I-killed-Batman" Schumacher and your lead actor is Colin "I'm-a-star-because-why?" Farrell.
Fortunately, they both do a pretty good job of stopping Phone Booth from being the failure it could've been and helping it become a nice little thriller. Schumacher keeps the camera moving and uses split screen, inventive angles, and some colorful filters in order to up the intensity and refusing to let the film or the audience breathe. I can't give as much praise to Farrell. He does a decent job as a man faced with the panic of having his life and the lives of his wife and pseudo-girlfriend at the mercy of a sniper, but I could think of ten different actors who could do the part and do it better. Farrell doesn't get much help from his supporting cast. Forest Whitaker is adequate as the detective trying to help Stu. Katie Holmes plays the innocent actress who's inadvertently flirting with Stu. Holmes needs to get banned from acting until she can learn to talk like a real woman instead of some dopey five year-old. But there is an incredible performance in this film and it comes from Kiefer Sutherland as the voice on the other end of the phone.
Being a big fan of Sutherland's television show 24 [note - only for the first two seasons], I might be a bit biased, but I honestly think he steals the film without even showing his face. Sutherland gives us a character who's playful, vindictive, and terrifying all at the same time and he does it all with his voice. The man owns this movie and with this film he enters a select group of actors who could read the phone book and still have my rapt attention.
Unfortunately the surprising work done by Schumacher and the wonderful performance by Sutherland begin to fall victim to the poor writing of the film's final act. The main problem lies in defining the sniper's motivations. At first, the sniper seems to want Stu's honesty and for Stu to confess his sins. But as the film progresses, the sniper seems more intent on getting Stu killed by the police than having Stu come clean about his attempted adultery. Additionally, the sniper gets some really cheesy lines which lessen the character's malevolence. By the final ten minutes of the film, anyone can see that the writer Larry Cohen simply had no idea how to end this film. The ending isn't wholly unsatisfying, but it also doesn't give an adequate payoff for the previous 70 minutes of suspense.
While the film does start to crumble in the last half-hour the premise and Sutherland's performance both make the film a worthwhile experience. If anything, it's a nice little popcorn movie that makes for a nice little movie going experience.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
4.24.03