I’m such a gigantic Colin Farrell fan, so watching “Phone booth” was only inevitable. I dragged my mate to watch it and all I can say is I was not disappointed. One of the things that convinced me to see this was the fact that it focuses on Colin Farrell for the majority of the movie. Now what else could a Farrell fan ask for? I had actually heard a great deal about this movie before it was made. Jim Carrey was originally lined up to play the main role, and supposedly it was going to be a comedy rather than a thriller. He turned it down and the part was later offered to Will Smith who obviously turned it down also. And that’s where the lovely Colin comes in.
How can a movie about a man stuck in a phone booth be exciting? I guess that was the question on my mind, with such a simple idea, could it be kept exciting without losing any of it’s appeal? Without knowing much beforehand about this movie, one could easily dismiss this as slow and boring, common sense would make you think there couldn’t possibly be any car chases, huge explosions or so how on Earth could this movie be under the action/thriller genre? Well that’s one thing I wanted to find out.
Ok well here is where it all begins. Stu Shepard is ‘the man’ when it comes to public relations. He has the connections and promises his clients success (even if he is just lying), in exchange for something that will benefit him of course. He knows what he is doing but is only interested in helping other people if he knows it will benefit him in some shape or form, so I guess you could say he’s a selfish man. Whilst wandering through New York he dismisses his assistant so he can make a private phone call from a phone booth. He does have a cell phone but he always phones a certain woman called Pamela McFadden from that same phone booth every single day. Pamela is an actress wanting to make it big and Stu says he’s going to help her. Obviously being the dishonest man that he is, he obviously only wants to help her for one thing and one thing only. The reason
he uses this phone booth and not his cell phone is because his wife Kelly checks his phone bill every month, although Pamela does not even know of Kelly’s existence.
After his call with Pamela has ended the phone in the booth begins to ring, Stu answers, but he’ll soon wish he just walked away. The caller with a very distinct voice begins to tell Stu about his life, and knows a great deal about his personal life. The caller than reveals that if Stu does not do what he says then he will shoot him as he is watching him at that very moment. Stu realises this guy is for real when he shoots somebody nearby to prove it; the caller is a psychotic sniper! Innocent bystanders are confused as to how this man was shot, and blame Stu, as he is the only one acting suspiciously. I won’t go into any more detail, as I’ll end up telling you the whole story.
Colin Farrell was just superb, and no I’m not just saying that because I want him! He looked totally gorgeous (although I did prefer him in Tigerland due to him looking all dirty, rugged and just damn right gorgeous!). He managed to carry this film (along with Sutherland). His performance was brilliant and I think he deserves all this recognition he is getting. Even though I heard a little bit of his strong Irish accent coming through at the beginning of the movie, I thought he played a very convincing New Yorker. There is one scene in the movie where I thought he was just brilliant but I wont tell you what it was, otherwise I’ll probably end up telling you the whole story. All I can say is not a lot of people can act very well in a confined space, so he really showed off his acting skills.
Kiefer Sutherland isn’t, well physically in this movie but his voice has a massive impact of course. When I heard he was providing the voice of the sniper, I knew the casting directors made the right choice, his voice was just perfect. My friend who I saw it with seems to think Vin Diesal would have done a better job, I have no idea what she is thinking. All I can say is Sutherland was excellent and did a brilliant job as the psychotic sniper. He had a huge impact on the movie, and his voice was just perfect for this kind of thing.
Forrest Whitaker gave a decent performance but for some reason it just wasn’t memorable. I totally forgot he was even in the movie after I’d seen it to be honest. I think he is a good actor but his part in the movie I felt wasn’t that good. He plays the cop who is trying to get Stu to give himself up, and the fact that they try to give this faceless cop a personality doesn’t really help the movie. It to me was a slight bit unrealistic; I just felt his story was unnecessary script filler. His performance was still decent but nothing great.
Radha Mitchell played the part of Kelly, Stu’s wife. Her part was nothing major but I still thought her performance was good, it think she’s a good actress and played the part really well. Katie Holmes played the part of Pamela, the woman Stu is trying to seduce. Her part was smaller than Mitchell’s, and her main objective was to play the beautiful, naïve, wannabe actress. She did play the part well but it was nothing amazing. It just felt like it was Joey Potter trying her hand at being an actress.
I was very impressed with the story when I first heard about it, but in a way I did expect it to be slightly better, but that doesn’t mean I was disappointed. I was still extremely impressed with the idea and concept. I haven’t really heard of anything like this, which is one of the reasons I was so impressed with it. It does sound like a bit of a risk though, basing a whole film in a single phone booth but since it was done so well, it works brilliantly. Larry Cohen wrote the story and I think he deserves praise for getting such a simple concept to work so well.
Joel Schumacher has made a lot of turkeys in the past but also made some simple yet brilliant films, and I think this movie is one of them. His direction in this movie was great; the fast pace of the camera kept the movie going. Keeping the pace going in a film like this couldn’t have been easy so for that I praise Schumacher.
The cinematographer Matthew Libatique uses several different cameras to capture the essence of this desperate situation. The frantic movements of the camera throughout the film help put forward the tension of this fateful day. Even though I felt the style of the camera movements was nothing new or original, it still brought a lot more tension into the movie. I genuinely believe good cinematography made this movie what it was. This movie could have so easily gone off the tracks and become slow and boring, yet because the fast pace and frantic camera movements, this doesn’t happen, and one can only be impressed with that.
The movie impressed the majority of the critics probably due to its original idea. I know a lot of people have been comparing this to Road Kill/Joy Ride or whatever it’s called. All I can say is what on earth are you talking about? The stories are completely different! This movie isn’t a rip off, it’s a new and original idea and it works! One thing I really appreciated about this movie was the fact that the tension was present throughout the film. The quick movements of the camera did contribute to this. The film is very fast paced, and considering it’s only filmed in one location, that would seem quite hard to do, but its done, and done well. The movie is fast and that is what kept me interested, I didn’t once feel the need to look at my mobile to find out the time because I was literally glued to the screen. If it was any calmer I’m sure it would be bordering on boring but it’s far from that, I’m sure it will catch you’re attention from the word go. The only problem I had with this movie was the ending, but I won’t go into how I felt it was disappointing, I might give away too much, but I felt there could have been a better ending.
Overall I thought this movie was great, the story was kept simple but it was still thrilling and exciting. The good performances from the cast made it even better. The movie is only 81 minutes long, which is in all honesty quite short for a feature length but I think it was perfect for this movie, as it is mostly, filmed in a single phone booth. I think if it had been any longer the audience might have gotten a little frustrated but this way the film doesn’t lose any of it’s appeal and manages to keep the audience glued to the screens throughout. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes thrillers, it might not be your average thriller but it still is definitely worth watching.
CAST~~
Colin Farrell – Stuart ‘Stu’ Shepard Kiefer Sutherland – The Caller Forest Whitaker – Captain Ed Ramey Radha Mitchell – Kelly Shepard Katie Holmes – Pamela McFadden
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Brilliant review. I've got this and it's one of my fav films. I never really liked Colin Farrell but his performnce in this was excellent. Also was Kiefer who I've always thought was a great actor since Lost Boys. --Chris--
AndyLoz 15.06.2004 19:28
excellent review. i have seen this film on the shelves but never found it interesting enough to bother about. think i'll give it a go. andy
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is an arrogant publicist lying his way to success in New York. ... more
Everything changes however when he unknowingly answers a call in a phone booth he's been using to cheat on his wife. Now he is at the mercy of the caller (Kiefer...
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
A single phone call can change a man's life...or possibly end it. Stu Shepard is a ... more
self-centered New York City publicist who suddenly finds himself on the deadly end of a high-powered rifle scope. Now it's a real-time race against the clock as Stu must...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78525005.jpg "Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]")
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