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Actors: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Phone Booth |
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An arrogant publicist thinks he is the best. He is also disloyal to his wife. One day a phone rings in the booth he is in. He picks it up and a man starts to tell him everything he knows about the publicist. The publicist starts to get frightened when he learns that the man calling him has a sniper rifle. He stays on the line and sees the sniper kill a pimp. The cops come and the publicist is blamed. The publicist can't prove his innocence, because then the sniper will kill him. He then tries to outwit the sniper and get the cops to figure out that he is innocent.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
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Stu Shepard (Collin Farrell) plays a slick, philandering public relations agent who gets pinned down by by an unknown sniper ( voiced by Keifer Sutherland) at the last phone booth left in NYC. The sadistic sniper threatens murder if Stuart doesn't confess his mistakes and to prove he is serious the sniper kills a bouncer from the strip club across the street. The rest of the movie Stuart has to deal with the sniper and convince the police (Forest Whitaker) that he is innocent.
--Bobby Blades, Resident Scholar
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Phone Booth is an exciting and enthralling movie…for half an hour; after which I couldn't help but wonder why this wasn't a made for TV movie. Phone Booth's original November release date was made inappropriate by the D.C area snipers; it was quickly pushed back to April. With news coverage and reality shows dominating the air waves it is hard to forget that sometimes fear and threats are no further away than the thin pane of glass in your window. Coming up with a film that isn't cliché before it even opens is becoming difficult.
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a publicist in New York City, and like most people in New York, he has his own agenda and is willing to step on other people in order to reach his goals. This, coupled with his extra-marital affair with Pamela (Katie Holmes), is supposed to make him an unlikable character to the audience; as if he somehow deserves to be in this situation. His wife (Kelly Shepard) is oblivious to her husband's actions until his face appears all over the news. When a victim goes down from a gunshot wound the police show up in droves with Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) leading the investigation in an attempt to get Stu out of the booth.
The problem here is in keeping a guy in a phone booth interesting for an hour and a half. A faceless threatening force is not enough to accomplish this. Stu's first interactions with the killer were nail-bitingly exciting as he was bombarded by street vendors, whores and pimps, while dealing with the fact that a rifle is aimed at his head. Once the police show up the attention grabbing prostitutes are put on the sidelines and we are left with a poorly written character (Captain Ramey). You probably wouldn't invite Stu over to a family meal, but certainly wouldn't cross the street to avoid him either. My point is that Stu's sins are not worthy of this high caliber, professional killer. Phone Booth is a much more intriguing concept if the mediocre Stu is replaced with someone who is either completely innocent of any wrong-doing or another killer. Stu doesn't deserve this punishment, and he isn't squeaky clean enough for us to be shocked that something like this could happen to such a nice person.
Colin Farrell (who has more movies coming out this year than Michael Jackson has had facelifts) does a fantastic job with his role. He is convincingly tormented by both the killer and his past while appearing in every scene of the movie. The only character that he gets to play off of is the telephone in his hand. Forest Whitaker is talented enough to realize that he should have stayed away from this role. His character is used as filler to give the movie a reason to last longer than its' exciting half an hour and is made to utter phrases such as “your lawyer is coming down now!” to Stu when the location of the killer is found. Katie Holmes is too big for her role. Her character only has two scenes of any significance and Holmes is capable playing a much meatier role. Phone Booth is set in New York City but shot almost entirely in Los Angeles; I'm impressed by any cinematographer that can turn an L.A. street into gritty, grid locked Times Square.
Phone Booth wants to comment on media and police tactics but shies away from actually taking a stand. The only reason to make a trip for this one instead of waiting for DVD is to see a superb actor (Farrell) who is just starting to realize his potential. If you hear a phone ringing, it is probably best left unanswered, or at least keep the call under an hour.
--Christopher Bryan, Resident Scholar
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Stuart Shepard (Farrell) is a publicist who does most of his work walking the streets of New York and working his tricks by cell phone. When he happens into the last working phone booth in the city, it rings for him. A voice that knows a lot about him lectures and insults him, and informs Stu that if he tries to leave the booth, it will kill him. This is made quite clear when a pimp gets shot dead while trying to get Stu off the phone so his girls can use it. The body brings the police, notably Capt. Ramey (Whitaker), who also try in vain to get Stu out of the phone booth, while he argues with the deadly voice, which orders him to confess his crimes to the world -- especially his wife and the young female client he's been eyeing. This taut but mercifully short 2002 film (81 minutes) requires young up-and-comer Farrell to hold the screen almost single-handedly, making the long voyage from cocky self-confidence to abject fear and despair, and he does it magnificently. Directed by Joel Schumacher, who has shot several forgettable Grisham tales and the execrable "8mm," it's actually a pretty decent thriller that runs hard, hip, and profane but was written by Larry Cohen, who wrote for the original "Fugitive" TV series back in 1963 and is now in his 60's!
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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A con man is being watched by a hidden killer with a rifle while he is in the phone booth. He has to keep talking on the phone to save his own life.
--M.Y.Prasetyo, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Phone Booth |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 54%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 26%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Time/Era of Movie:
- present (2000-2010)
Crime & Police Story?
Yes
Crime story:
- catching/stopping killer
- hunted by killer/stalker
Criminal enemy is...
- bad vigilante getting revenge
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- bald
Hair style
- (man) bald
Body type
- fat (man)
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- killer
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel...
- excited
How many deaths in film?
- 2
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 1 ()
Kind of violence:
- guns
- knives
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
- A huge amnt of foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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