This slick thriller about a slimy agent type who picks up a phone
and is told he will die if he hangs up is about as high concept
as it gets. However, Schumacher flips the script when the story
becomes a predictable and tedious tale of truth and redemption.
Writer Larry Cohen and director Joel Schumacher create an eerily
appropriate world where lack of privacy, greed, lies and snipers
are everywhere. Incidentally, Phone Booth was scheduled to open
last fall but 20th Century Fox delayed its release in the wake of
the Washington D.C. sniper case. Yet, their depiction of New York,
filled with over-the-top pimps and prostitutes, a trigger-happy
NYPD, and ethnic street peddlers seems passé and devoid of the New
York legacy left by former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani and the killing
of Amadou Diallo. Schumacher does succeed in creating a frenetic
pace and rising tension with cool camera tricks and an interesting
ticking soundtrack. (Hmmm’ maybe Kiefer Sutherland loaned them the
24 soundtrack!)
Colin Farrell plays a convincing Stu Shepard, a low-rent, fast
talking, unprincipled publicist who picks up a ringing phone in
the last phone booth in New York, and finds himself held captive
by a mysterious caller who knows everything about his life.
The Caller, who considers himself to be a "moral adjuster," says
he’s killed twice before and will kill Stu if he doesn’t repent
for his sins. Poor Stu! Sure, he’s a jerk and he’s been lying to
his wife (Radha Mitchell) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes), with
whom he hasn’t fornicated, but to kill him seems a bit much. Stu
thinks that he is off the hook after he fesses up to his wife and
girlfriend, but an incident with a pimp and some pesky prostitutes
(the lead prostitute stereotypically played by Paula Jai Parker)
results in a murder and pulls him deeper into The Caller’s divine
plan.
When the police arrive, they are convinced that Stu is responsible
for the murder. Forest Whitaker does a first-rate job as sensitive,
neurotic Captain Ramey who negotiates with Stu. Farrell and Whitaker
have an interesting chemistry but their clichéd dialogue at times
gets in the way. The story completely loses steam as Stu goes through
a complete moral evolution in front of the world (a media circus
has gathered at the scene). This ending is pretty lame and leaves
you wondering: Did Stu jump through emotional hoops for this?
Fortunately, the film is only 80-minutes long and the morality
lessons are quickly forgotten. But in the end, this Phone isn't
worth depositing the fifty cents, keep your change!
|