Hey folks, Harry here... Saw this film during SXSW and am meaning to write a review, but I've got so much I'm writing about, I'm painfully behind. I will say this... I agree with every single point in this review by J-Man. This movie does so much with so little. It feels classic, probably because of how "limited" the story is by location... There's a real sense of claustrophobia, isolation and intense fear going on in this thing. After you see this... Go to a video store... a good one... and get I SAW WHAT YOU DID by William Castle and SORRY, WRONG NUMBER. This is a great triple feature.
In the taut, mesmerizing new thriller PHONE BOOTH, a man makes a quick call from a payphone (so it won't show up on his wireless bill -- but, we'll get to that). When he's finished the phone rings, and he makes the mistake of answering it. The rest of his day is shot. Stuart Shepard, "publicist", is played in a fevered, bang-up performance by Colin Farrell; after TIGERLAND and now this, he and Joel Schumacher should stop doing things on their own and just work together for the duration of their careers. Stu is an agent in the entertainment industry. He makes promises to people he doesn't always keep. The reference to JERRY MAGUIRE early on is a nice touch. Stu goes to the same phone booth the same time every day, which we're told is "the last vestige of privacy on Manhattan's West side", to call one of his clients, Pamela, an actress (Katie Holmes in a throw-away). Stu is married, but considering an affair with this other woman; "Sometimes you just want to know it's a possibility."
On the day before Verizon is going to shut down this particular booth, Stuart is on the phone with a man, unseen, who says he has a rifle aimed for him. No joke. Stu asks, "Why me?" And, we get a list of reasons from the sniper -- an ominous, funny, just-this-side-of-scary voice-over by Kiefer Sutherland -- which pretty much boils down to the following: "be a man", "come clean" and "deception can't go unrewarded". He is by turns marriage counselor, and pissed-off buyer of StuÃs bullshit demanding his money back. How the sniper could possibly know as much as he does is beyond me; I mean, I doubt anyone would talk about everything they do and everyone they know-- their whole life -- right there on a payphone, and besides, Stu only calls the other woman from this location and she doesn't know he's married, so how could the sniper even know about Stu's wife? But, nevermind.
I love this movie. It is directed, by Schumacher, about as well as anyone could direct a movie about a man having a conversation in a confined space without the ability to leave it. Larry Cohen's script is laced with dialogue thatÃs smart, fast and furious, so the situation never leaves us wanting for more. Farrell does a convincing job of folding under the pressure of his circumstance. You can see his character's fear, anxiety, paranoia, etc., playing out on his face the whole way. And, he has a terrific speech near the end, his wife within earshot, where he admits he's the not the person he means to be even though he hasn't technically done anything wrong. If this film, _that scene_, doesn't make Farrell a star, nothing's gonna.
The opening is obligatory, commenting on how cell phone usage is perceived now as opposed to years ago. But, I did like the way StuÃs entrance is announced. Added to which, the denouement of PHONE BOOTH makes it play very much like an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
Great cinematography. Great soundtrack. A great lead performance.
Great cinema, period.
J-Man
