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04/14/03

1 hr. 21 mins.
Starring: Colin Farrell, Forrest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Kiefer Sutherland, Radha Mitchell, Paula Jai Parker
Directed by: Joel Schumacher

Rating: *** stars (out of 4 stars)

The high-wire Hollywood thriller Phone Booth gives a whole new meaning to the term “call waiting”. Director Joel Schumacher, whose filmmaking career has been up and down more times than a middle-aged woman’s menopausal mood swing, bounces back into giddy gear with his tense and nifty psychological narrative. Sure, Schumacher’s pumped-up claustrophobic drama suffers from the usual strains of clichéd conventions and all its illogical and suspenseful flaws. But what helps overcome the slight inconsistencies in the material is the quirky and compelling execution that this plucky and snide sniper caper brings to the table. Although simplistic in concept, Phone Booth is a subversively dandy escapist flick that uses its confinement and crassness as its wickedly hysterical calling card. This is the year’s first energetic joyride that can definitely make a mere busy signal tone sing volumes.

Schumacher enlists the services of his formerly unknown leading man turned box office hotshot Colin Farrell (whom he previously “discovered” and directed in his well-received military melodrama Tigerland) to star in this startling nail-biter about a narcissistic and obnoxious New York press agent pinned inside an enclosed glassy phone booth that happens to be the targeted venue of a deranged gunman’s firearm. Farrell, the charismatic Irish actor who’s made an impressionable mark in the futuristic actioner Minority Report and currently is moonlighting elsewhere in recent released fare such as The Recruit and Daredevil, is absolutely effective as Booth’s self-absorbed and adulterous cad Stu Shepard. The thought of this unctuous pretty boy publicist getting an unexpected form of comeuppance from a sanctimonious gun-toting psychopath that cleverly traps him inside a cramped-up casing while sitting in judgment of his extra-marital pigeon and his dirty deeds is indeed a delightfully devilish commentary to behold with haunting forethought. Essentially one will come to appreciate the seesaw quagmire that Schumacher propels his puckish lead into as he methodically examines two kinds of stigmatized guinea pigs lost in their own selfish disillusionment.

The garish cat-and-mouse games begin when the smarmy Stu decides to contact his pretty client and eventual side dish-of-a-mistress named Pam McFadden (Katie Holmes) through a busy and heavily visited Manhattan telephone booth. The ever-so-cautious Stu, not wanting to have Pam’s phone number appear on his cell phone billing statement in case his wife Kelly (Radha Mitchell) happens to stumble across it, routinely visits this phone booth to conduct business with pleasure. In fact, it appears that a lot of shady characters have been using this particular phone booth for their personal carousing playground. Unaware the site is constantly being watched by an unstable man with a holier than thou attitude lurking in the wings, Stu and his fellow “sinners” are being subject to the ire of this “moral misfit” that vicariously snoops through the sordid lives of his potential phoning victims. He’s determined to make these misled malcontents pay for their indiscretions, most notably choosing to make an example out of the wheeling-and-dealing weasel Stu Shepard.

When Stu answers the ringing phone inside the booth, the Caller (voiced spookily by Kiefer Sutherland) cautions, “Whatever you do, don’t hang up”. Soon Stu is advised by the Caller/gunman regarding his sudden actions that better be in accordance with the dictated instructions otherwise he’ll be an unlucky recipient of the crazed man’s stray bullets. The question remains: will the panicky publicist find some redemptive fiber within his unsavory behavior after dealing with the harrowing and humiliating experience of being singled out by a crusading marksman looking to use him as target practice if he steps out of line?

To relish the sensationalism of Phone Booth is to simply loose yourself in the preposterousness of this story’s cockeyed yet bold convictions. Schumacher and writer Larry Cohen enthusiastically concoct a dynamic gem that’s riveting enough to make moviegoers suspend all disbelief for the sake of the film’s scant 81-minute running time. The hostile proceedings capture the tension marvelously by flinging its sharp wit and presenting twists where one could follow with noted aplomb. The idea that anyone would make a mockery out of terrorizing a self-servicing press agent feels rather kooky seeing as though there are many annoying professions the screenwriters could pick on to tear apart viciously (perhaps garrulous film critics with an egotistical complex for instance?). Somehow this decision comes across as some inside joke (maybe a disagreeable publicist might have stuck his tongue out at Cohen along the way?) Why couldn’t the gunman aim his tirade at the legitimate dregs of society such as moneymaking street pimps or ineffectual skirt-chasing politicians ripping off their constituents? Still, it doesn’t matter who becomes the victimized pick-of-the-day because Schumacher frantic fable is not meant to adhere to any structured rhyme or reason-it is basically an urbanized surrealistic venture where paranoia meets the polarizing effect of a decaying fast-paced society where everyone seems to be operating without a moral code.

Farrell is the perfect pawn for Schumacher’s erratic showcase of self-examination and the search for redemption through the rage of an unsteady onlooker in need of the same kind of calming medicine. As the cocky and cavalier roguish rooster who struts his showy stuff with no value system whatsoever, it’s almost a perverse joy seeing Farrell’s alter ego being taken down a notch or two while marching to the beat of an unidentified delusional drummer. The fact that he’s been made a poster boy for some warped gunman’s misguided angst in front of the hectic streets of New York’s wandering masses adds to the ribaldry that crosses the boundaries of a deteriorating social statement intertwined with a pulsating popcorn crime thriller. In many ways, Schumacher’s vehicle vehemently questions the irrational tendencies toward violence and the frivolous ability to embrace this impulse with a moment’s notice.

Stu Shepard’s world comes crashing in on him and rightfully so. The supporting players-everyone from cop negotiator Capt. Ramey (Forest Whitaker) to galpal Pam-are pulled into the transfixing world of this nefarious phone booth that has us caged and tightly wound in as much as the movie’s plagued star. The cat-in-the-box antics that Farrell plays so wonderfully well is not really the main entertaining vibe in this film. In fact, the well-deserved kudos should go to Sutherland’s seriocomic turn as the depraved unseen villain. The fact that his chewy chatterbox connection with Farrell’s conniving creep is so invigorating just by the eerie flow of his intimidating phone voice definitely makes Sutherland’s Caller one of the most refreshingly inventive sociopaths to grace the big screen in quite some time.

Surprisingly, Phone Booth daringly takes a chance because the premise of two desperate souls maneuvering their freedom and frustrations over the phone lines could have resulted in one prolonged gimmick-a long drawn out process if you will. But the filmmakers are intuitive enough to incorporate some freshness and imagination behind this sketchy script so that the simplicity of this whole ordeal is actually this movie’s highlighted and revered selling point. The adage that sometimes less is more certainly applies to the rawness of this unique suspense piece.

The release of this film seemed to be more complex in nature behind the scenes as opposed to what viewers see on the screen. As a majority of movie fans know by now, Phone Booth was delayed in hitting theaters last fall due to the real-life Washington D.C.-area sniper attacks that dominated the national news in the fall of 2002. Naturally it would have been insensitive and inappropriate for the theme of this movie to invade our cinematic consciousness when art came so close to imitating life. Nevertheless, this distinction shouldn’t be the sole deciding factor for filmgoers to check out this crafty and confrontational raucous ride.

With the adequate amount of bragging rights that this surly thriller conjures up so effortlessly and confidently, Phone Booth won’t leave anybody disconnected from its action-packed gaudiness.