In some ways, “Phone Booth” comes across more as a film school assignment than a fully-developed motion picture, but nonetheless manages to be thoroughly engrossing. The assignment in question is the film’s novel premise, set almost completely around a phone booth.
The idea of watching someone talk on the phone to a never-seen assailant for 81 minutes may sound unappealing, but that is where you would be wrong.
In an age of Hollywood blockbusters, it’s nice to see a film that focuses more on character and setting than explosions and body counts.
Set entirely within and around the confines of a New York City phone booth, “Phone Booth” follows Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell, “Daredevil,” “The Recruit”), a sleazy publicist who is suddenly trapped after being told by a caller – a serial killer (Kiefer Sutherland, 24) with a sniper rifle – that he’ll be shot if he hangs up.
The caller’s first, chilling words to Stu – “Isn’t it funny – you hear a phone ringing and it could be anybody. A ringing phone has to be answered, doesn’t it?” – hurtle Stu into a life-and-death struggle while forcing him to reexamine his life and priorities.
What makes “Phone Booth” special is its simultaneous success as both a morality play and a psychological thriller. It’s not common for a film set in a single location to maintain its intensity without fail, but this one does. Larry Cohen’s script is sharp, smart and moves along at a good pace.
And director Joel Schumacher’s visual flair pulls it off admirably. One of Schumacher’s principle tools is split screen (or picture-in-picture), which he uses to great effect.
The morality play aspect is pulled off equally well. Given that Stu is, in many ways, a bad guy, and so is the murderer who has chosen to hold him accountable, this isn’t a black and white moral picture. Going far beyond ‘an eye for an eye,’ the sniper lies, threatens, injures and kills to make his point.
Forcing Stu to bare his soul, this self-appointed avenging angel has done far worse than those he chooses to nail. Yet it’s both fascinating and compelling to watch Stu slide from pretension and obnoxiousness to self pity and then finally to personal responsibility.
One can’t help but wonder why the sniper picked Stu, however, who is relatively benign compared to previous victims who were child molesters and corporate crooks.
For an actor still relatively new to audiences, Farrell delivers a tour de force performance. He handles a challenging role – being onscreen talking on the telephone for the majority of the film – flawlessly, and the supporting cast does a fantastic job.
Overall the film is a taut, tense trip which will draw you in and won’t leave you hanging. It’s “Twilight Zone” meets “Speed.”
“Phone Booth” is rated R for pervasive language and some violence and opened April 4.
