Phone Booth - Small Space, Big Suspense!

Reel Critic Grade: B+ Running Time: 81 Minutes Rated: R

The world has always had an unexplained fascination with the phone booth. Through the years phone booths have given us privacy during a call, refuge from the rain, a place to cram bodies in hope of a new world record, and many other normal, unique, and often bizarre happenings. So, I went to the theater with nostalgic curiosity about a film set inside one of these fading icons. I was intrigued to see how a writer and director planned to entertain me for almost an hour and a half limited to the footprint of a postage stamp.

The film stars Colin Farrell as Stuart (Stu) Shepard. Stu is an unscrupulous press agent making his mark on New York entertainment. He's a deal maker and does whatever it takes to get his clients coverage. Stu's married to Kelly Shepard (Radha Mitchell), but his affections are wandering. Each day from a phone booth in Manhattan, Stu makes a call to Pamela McFadden (Katie Holmes), a young actress who believes Stu is working to further her career. Stu, however, has other plans. The phone booth conveniently hides Stu's disloyalty from the watchful eye of his wife, who regularly checks his cell phone bills.

On this fateful day, just after Stu hangs up with Pamela, the pay phone rings and Stu answers it. On the other end of the line is a sniper bent on righting the wrongs of certain individuals. The Voice, as he is known, is played by Kiefer Sutherland - and what a voice he is. His low raspy tone, direct approach, and sinister laugh make for a wickedly-fun villain. The Voice taunts Stu and threatens to kill him if he hangs up or leaves the phone booth.

Stu's ego, however, is large enough to fill ten phone booths and he isn't about to have terms dictated by some loser on the other end of a phone line - big mistake. When a pimp tries to remove Stu, so his prostitutes (or escorts as they like to be called) can use the phone, The Voice assists (at Stu's pleading) by putting a bullet in the pimp's back - killing him. Stu's attitude towards The Voice does an instant one-eighty and the game begins.

Police arrive and we are smack in the middle of a nail-biting stand-off. The police think Stu is the killer and The Voice won't let Stu divulge any information to the cops. He even forces Stu to slander the cops; pouring fuel on the already stoked fire. The cop in charge is Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker). Ramey works to control the situation, while trying to fit the puzzle pieces in place. As usual, Whitaker performs above the bar as the compassionate cop whose own life could use mending.

Why is The Voice doing all this? It turns out he stalked Stu over a period of time and didn't like what he found. In his mind, Stu is morally corrupt and needs to confess his sins. The Voice is more than happy to help him (or force him to) do it. TV crews covering the unfolding story provide the kind of massive press exposure Stu only dreamt of creating for his clients. With his wife and potential mistress present, Stu fulfills The Voice's desire. The act of confession seems to be a catharsis for Stu. If he gets out of this alive, he may be a changed man.

Colin Farrell is good as the brash young go-getter forced to find morality. His emotional transformation throughout the stand-off is believable and well acted. I like Farrell as an actor and so does Hollywood. His star continues to rise and he is repeatedly cast in film after film. I just hope he doesn't fall into the same trap as John Travolta and Ben Affleck, taking so many roles that we grow tired of him.

Writer Larry Cohen and director Joel Schumacher have done a superb job creating a tight, quick-paced thriller. The film accomplishes just about everything it sets out to do and in an economical eighty-one minutes. At first, I was skeptical of the short run-time of the film. Short films are often poorly written and missing gobs of story information. Not so with Phone Booth. I suppose someone might argue the believability of certain elements of the story, but Cohen was thorough in getting us from start to finish without asking us to leap over gaping holes.

If there is a misstep in Phone Booth it is the timing of its creation and release. Phone booths have all but disappeared in our cellular world, which lessens the connection the viewer has with the film. The movie is still suspenseful, but since most of us don't use phone booths anymore, it doesn't strike fear into our hearts. It's like watching the movie Jaws after the oceans had all but dried up and swimming in the ocean was a thing of the past. I admit this is a little picky, but it's the difference between a good film and a great film. Today, Phone Booth is a good film and well worth seeing. Ten years ago, Phone Booth would have been a great film of legendary status.