Phone Booth Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)April 7th, 2003
PHONE BOOTH (2003) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell and Katie Holmes. Music by Harry Gregson-Williams. Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Joel Schumacher. Rated R. Running time: Approx. 90 minutes.
The premise of Phone Booth brims with possibilities, which a director with Hitchcock-like sensibilities could have mined.
But Phone Booth was directed by the pedestrian Joel Schumacher. the individual who killed the Batman franchise with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.
Not that Phone Booth lacks suspense, but Schumacher and writer Larry Cohen have failed to take advantage of the full potential the situation offers.
The plotline is simple: Low-rent publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), who uses the same pay phone at the same time every day to clandestinely call his girlfriend, answers that same phone when it rings.
It turns out the person on the other end knows all about Stu, his life and his loves. Plus, he tells Stu if he hangs up he will be shot because a high-powered rifle is trained on him.
What this well-armed avenging angel, voiced by Keifer Sutherland, wants Stu to do is publicly confess his sins, to come clean about the sleazy life he leads.
Talk about tough love.
Stu's antagonist claims to have done this before, killing a child pornographer and a dishonest business executive.
Why he has chosen a low life like Stu as his next victim really doesn't make sense, but a lot about Phone Booth doesn't.
The crux of the film are the mind games the sniper plays with Stu, especially after the police surround the area after believing Stu shot and killed a pimp who tried to force him to give up the phone booth.
Stu is forced to bait the police captain (Forest Whitaker) investigating the situation as well as publicly humiliate himself in front of his wife, girlfriend, the police and most of New York, which is watching on television.
The problem with Schumacher's direction is that while he keeps the suspense taut, he fails to utilize or heighten the danger and, most importantly, the claustrophobia, of the situation.
Farrell's performance is a study in hysteria, both controlled and uncontrolled, but you really don't give a darn about him. A couple of times you hope for the sniper to pull the trigger and just end it all.
Sutherland, in what is basically a radio performance, has a field day as he uses his voice with the dexterity of a surgeon handling a scalpel. He keeps the spark glowing.
At only about 90 minutes, Phone Booth feels longer than its running time: not a good sign. The film offers some moments of black humor, danger and suspense, but fails to cohesively bind them together.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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