Phone Booth (2003)

An innovative suspenseful thriller!,

An innovative suspenseful thriller!

Schumacher's latest outing PHONE BOOTH takes a familiar formula and applies some clever new spins. We begin with a stereotypical `Scream' like psycho killer (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) who loves to taunt and terrorize his victims via the telephone. However, Schumacher deviates from the standard psycho killer fare in intriguing ways. Firstly, our primary victim is male (Colin Farrell) not female. Rather than being trapped helpless and home alone, the victim is duped into answering a phone call in a busy New York City telephone booth. The killer then threatens to open fire with a high power rife unless Farrell (playing a New York City publicist) stays on the line and does everything he's told.

Schumacher takes pains at the beginning of the film to paint Farrell's character as a lying, manipulative self-centered lowlife. Again, the director breaks with the stereotypical formula in which the killer's victims are innocents who draw the audiences' sympathy, by painting Farrell as a worm, Schumacher cleverly inverts the formula so that the audience actually enjoys watching the victim squirm.

The killer tells Farrell he has set other victims up in the same manner and has killed before. To prove to Farrell he means business, he kills a bystander. This acts as a reality check both for Farrell and the audience - it's one thing to see a low life being made to squirm but quite another for the sniper to open fire on a crowded New York Street. The audience now expects Schumacher to start running up the body count. But the director again dashes audience expectation and turns the film primarily into a psychological thriller rather than the action suspense or slasher fare we've been led to expect. The camera and action focus almost exclusively on the phone booth (reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's ROPE) and the publicist's agony and humiliation as the killer forces him to stay in the booth, now surrounded by police, and carry out his twisted wishes upon threat of death. Unaware of the sniper's presence, the police think the publicist has the killed the bystander. Farrel's character must continue playing the killer's deadly game in hopes he can somehow tip the police before either they, or the killer, end his life. Schumacher caps the film with a nice (though not totally unpredictable) twist ending. An innovative suspenseful outing!

Rob Rheubottom

Wpg, MB Canada

November 12, 2008

An Awesome Film!!!

I always liked this movie. It's cool how a snobby publicist named Stu is cheating on his wife, then 'the caller' calls Stu at a phone booth, and if Stu hangs up, the caller will shoot him. The caller does shoot someone and everyone thinks Stu did it, then the police get involved. It's also cool that Stu confesses everything to his wife and everyone watching. I would have liked to see a sequel where the caller makes someone else confess their sins. If you love suspense and thrillers, you'll love PHONE BOOTH!!!

"Isn't it funny, you hear a phone ring and it could be anybody, but a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it?" - The Caller. September 9, 2008

Phone Booth a Winner

I had forgotten about the copy of "Phone Booth" that we purchased from you and guess what........IT PLAYED OKAY!!!!

So, THAT would be a good reason, why we then ordered the "Sweet November" and "Love Floats" DVDs and were disappointed, as previously stated!!!

How could I have forgotten about this one, "Phone Booth"????

It was GREAT!!!!!!

I am really interested in the "Ice Road Truckers" series, so will give it some serious consideration, then let you know!!!!

Yours sincerely,
Lou Baby............. July 21, 2008

Not Bad

When this came out, it sounded silly. Kept putting it off until my movie queue dwindled. Gave it a second chance. Not bad. I couldn't quite give it four stars, but it was better than expected.

In some ways, the acting was almost too realistic (which makes it more life-like but less likely to win awards). For that, I would give four stars.

But, there is a lack of direction. Too many starts that are abruptly halted. On the flip side, it was pleasantly surprising that it ended when it did (i.e., short film) instead of dragging on and on like some competing films. March 22, 2008

Mediocre, but worth watching once or twice

Let me preface this review with the fact that I am not a big Colin Farrell fan, though this was probably the best movie I've seen him in. Essentially he plays a bottom rung publicist named Stu who seems to want to desperately cheat on his wife. I would not say this movie speaks for all Farrell films, because this is one of the greater ones. However, I do like Keifer Sutherland. Be that as it may, I did enjoy this movie in the end. I realize most people would think the premise of this film is fairly stupid, such as a movie based on Colin Farrell being stuck in a phone booth. I know... sounds exciting right?

Surprisingly the drama in the film really drove it a lot better than I could have ever expected. Granted this might be due to the fact that I had pretty low expectations going in, but I will say it certainly beat them. I'm not saying this is a top movie and a must see, but it's worth giving it a shot, that's for sure. It's actually a pretty interesting premise when you get into it because it basically has Keifer's character holding Farrell hostage in a phone booth the entire time. Strangely the whole movie is filmed without seeing Keifer until the end of the film, but all you hear is his voice throughout. Instead, Keifer is holding him at gunpoint from a window that Farrell can't even see. So it's up to Keifer to prove to him that he has the means to kill Farrell.

Just about everything Keifer's character says is awesome. Especially the part where he cocks the gun and explains why that sound is cool. I have to admit that it was Keifer that really drove the movie and got me into the film, even though he wasn't even on screen. The fact he was basically playing a hitman (or sharpshooter technically) that was shooting people because he didn't like them was great, and somewhat fairly unique for the development of this film. Especially since Kiefer's character is sort of trying to right the world by forcing people to adhere to a more moral/ethical code of life.

As you can see Forest Whitaker's character didn't do that much for me. He was just the cop who spent his time trying to figure out what Farrell was doing. It's kind of an essential role for the reality factor, but it was just a standard police negotiator type of role that people have seen many times over.

Either way, some people will walk away with more from this movie than others. That morality twist in the film on what is actually more wrong really makes you sit and think about it. This is where the movie shines. The movie doesn't have that much re-watch value overall, but if you can find the DVD for a bargain price, it's a quality five dollar movie. Or if it just happens to be on TV, definitely worth sitting down to watch. It's not the kind of movie that will keep you and your friends talking for a long period of time, but I say it's at least worth seeing once. Interesting premise and setting, with drama that moves the movie along and keeps the viewers interested. March 7, 2008

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