MOVIE - PHONE BOOTH - Review Rating $$$$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING- Colin Farrell (Stu), Kiefer Sutherland (caller/sniper), Forest Whitaker (Capt. Ramey), Radha Mitchell & Katie Holmes.
DIRECTOR - Joel Schumacher (Tigerland, Flawless, 8MM & Bad Company)
WARNING - THIS REVIEW IS LONGER THAN THE MOVIE BEING REVIEWED
A self-styled vigilante sniper takes a disliking to an obnoxious publicist.
Phone Booth is a very frustrating moviegoing experience. An interesting concept, reasonably well executed that lacks a meaningful purpose.
Phone Booth has to be given credit for having a script smart enough to answer almost all of the nagging questions that arise along the way. We find out, for instance, that Stu (Farrell) is a creature of habit who uses the last remaining phone booth in New York City at the same time everyday. This explains how the sniper is able to set his trap. Other seemingly implausible aspects of the story are neatly explained and this allows the viewer to buy into the premise. The script is also smart enough to play on the NYPD's dubious reputation for shooting unarmed civilians.
The only thing they get wrong, and it had to be presented this way to justify later developments, is the issue of the phone tap. Exigent circumstances (a response to an emergency, "hot pursuit," the probability of destruction of evidence, the possibility of violence, or a substantial risk of harm to the persons involved or to the law-enforcement process if officers must wait for a warrant) could easily have been relied on to justify tapping the phone without a warrant.
The premise of Phone Booth, if you hang up your dead, creates an inherently intense plot. The movie, however, manages to squander its tension quota fairly early on. There are two interrelated reasons for this. First, when was the last time you saw a mainstream Hollywood movie without a happy ending? Second, it quickly becomes apparent that Phone Booth isn't exactly a meaningful commentary on the times we live in.
Phone Booth's minimal social commentary is part of the reason it goes from interesting and original (a movie that unfolds in one location) to been there, done that. The "15 minutes of fame and getting noticed anyway you can" theme has been done better in numerous other films (Fifteen Minutes, To Die For and Network to name a few).
The "don't be a schmuck" theme, the other subplot in Phone Booth, lacks credibility
for a variety of reasons. First, crazed snipers tend to target people indiscriminately. The odds that other mean people will be forced to confess their sins on the local news by a crazed sniper are remote to say the least. Thus, if an obnoxious jerk watches Phone Booth he/she is unlikely to feel compelled to reflect on their personal shortcomings and change their ways.
Secondly, as the movie points out, our Warholian based "fifteen minutes of fame" social order means that these very same obnoxious jerks would relish the opportunity for exposure. Gosh, the success of Reality T.V. is based on the willingness of obnoxious jerks to demonstrate what idiots they are.
Lastly, without wanting to give the ending completely away, no one suffers any real consequences for their misdeeds in Phone Booth. In fact, the only people that get killed are semi-innocent bystanders, who weren't obnoxious enough to be the original targets of the sniper's outrage. So much for demonstrating the value of being nice.
Normally, I'm a fan of movies that manage to tell complex tales in a reasonable period of time (less than two hours). However, at only 81 minutes, Phone Booth demonstrates the limits of brevity. Four of the five central characters, in Phone Booth, are inadequately developed. We never really find out what motivates the sniper (though apparently he didn't have an unhappy childhood). The script hints at, but doesn't adequately explain the events that lead Capt. Ramey to proceed with such diligence in ending the crisis peacefully. The woman in the movie, Stu's devoted wife and wannabe famous girlfriend, are mere set props that the script doesn't feel the need to explain any further. I don't think anyone would have objected to Phone Booth being a few minutes longer if those minutes were used to provide more insight into the central characters. That further insight would have been necessary in a movie that truly had something to say but since Phone Booth doesn't you could argue that additional character development was redundant.
I must admit that Farrell does a reasonably good job here. He's the current bad boy of Hollywood so the role wasn't much of a stretch for him. Kiefer Sutherland's voice gives the sniper a truly evil persona and helps to carry the movie. Whitaker, a very talented actor, does a god job with the limited material he has to work with. Since the script provides little or no motivation for their characters, the lackluster performances of Mitchell, and Holmes in particular, can be partly excused.
I can't end this review without chastising Fox 2000 Pictures, yet again, for another of those previews that shows you almost every important scene in the movie. Considering the script's lack of additional detail you honestly don't have to pay to see Phone Booth, like I did, if you've watched the preview.
It took over four years to get Phone Booth made and released. My advice, waiting a few more months for the DVD rental won't kill you.
Running time - 81 minutes
ALTERNATIVE REVIEWS:
Roger Ebert's Review
Private Joker's Review
Phone Booth Official Website
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© Copyright
2003
David Schwartz.
Last update:
8/9/03; 11:07:44 PM.
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