"Phone Booth"
20th Century Fox Pictures
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Written by Larry Cohen
Produced by Gil Netter and David Zucker
Starring Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell and Kiefer Sutherland
Rated R
(out of four)

When most movies try to thrill with bigger scale sets and explosions, "Phone Booth" takes things down a few notches to a claustrophobic phone booth on a crowded New York City street off of Times Square. A voice-over tells us that it’s one of the few private locations on the city streets.

The recipient of the film’s misfortune is Stu, played by up- and-coming Irish actor Colin Farrell in an impressive performance that fully takes in a role that makes or breaks a film, since the camera is on him for almost the entire duration of the film. Stu is a slick New York City talent agent—or at least wishes he were slick—who walks through the city talking on his cell phone to make deals while bossing his assistant around. ("Talking to yourself used to be a sign of insanity," the voice-over at the beginning of the film says, "now it’s a sign of status.")

Stu stops at a phone booth to call one of his clients, Pamela (Katie Holmes) because, well…he wants to seduce her and doesn’t want his wife (Radha Mitchell) to notice her number on the phone bill. Holmes plays Pamela as a sweet and innocent young actress who just moved to the city and is a little too trusting of people. She declines Stu’s invitation to lunch at a hotel and he hangs up the phone, a little disappointed, but with the consolation of being faithful to his wife.

Then a pizza man tries to deliver a pre-paid pie to the booth and the impatient Stu treats him rudely.

Then the pay phone rings.

Stu accepts the impulse to answer it, although he’s not expecting a call at the booth—he has a cell phone, after all. A deep, sinister voice speaks to him and lays down the rules: Stu’s not allowed to hang up the phone because the caller is a sniper who will shoot him and anyone who interferes with the proceedings. It sounds like a prank call until a street vendor’s robot explodes and, the sniper points out, no one on the street cares.

The scenario taps into deep paranoia. We’re being watched and we’re vulnerable. Stu is in a public place, surrounded by onlookers, but can’t ask anyone for help. What’s worse, it quickly becomes clear that the act isn’t completely random and the sniper knows about many aspects of Stu’s life.

When some strippers or prostitutes keep trying to use the phone and their bosses or pimps come, shots are fired and the women claim Stu has a gun. The police come, and Stu’s in a bind. He can’t empty his pockets to show he has no gun because he has to keep his hands visible or the police will shoot him. He can’t leave the booth and go into police custody because the sniper will shoot him—and possibly some onlookers.

Forest Whitaker plays the police chief who is called out to the scene and is smart enough to realize that something in the situation isn’t right and that Stu may be the victim.

The film creates interesting drama by using intelligent people instead of unbelievably stupid police or magical police who manage to solve the crime without any evidence. It also makes Stu a rather despicable person, sympathetic only because he’s caught in a madman’s design of punishment, and everyone deserves punishment for something.

The film is far from perfect. A few of the supporting characters, most notably the prostitutes, are a bit overplayed, although they do provide the comic relief. Also, the moralizing is a little heavy in the story itself, so throwing in the voice-over is pushing it. These elements, however, are forgivable due to the strong suspense in several of the scenes and the intelligent traits that several of the characters show.

The film runs a brisk 81 minutes that play out virtually in real time and runs with strong cinematography that lets us get to know the area. With the exception of some opening and closing computer-generated shots that go from outer space satellites to Manhattan to a telephone chip, the filming is basic, yet affective.

With realistic events, the film has enough material to stop you from picking up a ringing pay phone again.
jeremy@red-mag.com