Today’s quick review: Phone Booth. Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), a self-absorbed publicist, steps into a New York phone booth to call Pamela (Katie Holmes), the woman he wants to have an affair with. Instead, he receives a call from a stranger (Kiefer Sutherland) who threatens to shoot him if he puts down the phone. As the phone call escalates into a police incident, it falls to Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) to decipher what is going on.
Phone Booth is a crime thriller about a man trapped in a phone booth by a brilliant sniper. Stu finds himself outmaneuvered at every turn and forced to play the sniper’s game: confessing his infidelity to his wife Kelly (Radha Mitchell). Phone Booth spins this premise into a passable thriller, with a nice cat-and-mouse game between Stu and the man holding him hostage. However, the movie’s tenuous plot and busy presentation won’t appeal to everyone.
Phone Booth’s strengths lie in its particulars. It takes the movie a while to get Stu to a point where he understands his situation and interact with the man on the other end of the line, but once the movie gets there, it comes up with some clever ways for Stu to get into and out of trouble. Kiefer Sutherland does a great job as the caller, who is always two steps ahead, while Colin Farrell makes the most of his role.
But even with its best efforts, Phone Booth is a hard sell. The movie has to bend over backwards to make its premise feasible, using a combination of the caller’s planning and bad luck to cut off the many ways Stu has to defuse the situation. Stu is not a likable character and never really becomes one, even at his most contrite. The movie also uses an aggressive presentation style to ramp up the intensity of an otherwise static situation.
Phone Booth is a fine pick for anyone in the mood for a thriller with a unique premise. Neither the scope of its story nor the depth of its characters is enough to be game-changing, but the movie does have enough plot twists to keep the audience on their toes. Check it out if you want something short, to the point, and reasonably creative. Skip it if you’re looking for a gracefully orchestrated thriller or one with a deeper story.
For a similar thriller about a man trapped in a public place by a sniper, try Grand Piano. For a higher-adrenaline phone-themed thriller, try Cellular. For a more personal drama about a man on the phone dealing with the fallout of his infidelity, try Locke. For a crime thriller that takes a similar premise in a different direction, try Shattered. For a more human police standoff, try Dog Day Afternoon or Mad City.
[7.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/). I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for a decent plot with hit-or-miss characters and style.