Phone Booth is a one-man show. Phone Booth is a must see psychic thriller.
I recently had some free time in the evening and decided to go to the movies. Based on my time of arrival, I had a choice between Holes and Phone Booth. The only expectation I had of Phone Booth was the review by Suyog – had I wasted my time, Suyog would have had an earful by now – carefully chosen words pickled in Priya. Lucky for him, I liked the movie and I was left gasping for more.
At least for me the movie was unique in the sense it rested on the shoulders of one man – Stu Shepard played by Colin Farell and the main prop was a 2 ft by 3 ft phone booth. And the director – Joel Schumacher - has weaved magic with the limited resources at his disposable.
According to me the movie also had a subtle message about the current state of society, where the cell phone has become an appendage to the human body and there is absolutely no time to stand and stare and admire the small things in life.
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The Plot:
The main prop – the Phone Booth is the last one to stand on 53rd street and between Eighth Avenue and Broadway. The phone company has plans to demolish it – and this movie is the story about its last occupant – Stu Sheppard.
Stu is a small time PR person who has no scruples, lies through his teeth and conducts all his business via the phone while striding the streets of Manhattan. He is married to Kelly played by Radha Mitchell and is planning to make an actress out of Pam played by Katie Holmes but his only interest was to get her in the sack. Stu makes all his calls to Pam through the public telephone and he has sunk so low in his morals that he removes his wedding band when he carries on his illicit relationship.
During one of such calls, he becomes the victim of a sniper who is hiding in the vicinity who threatens to kill him, unless he comes clean and confesses about his superficial lifestyle. In a bizarre turn of incidents with some hookers, the boss of the hookers gets sniped. This brings in a sweep of police cars and the ordeal begins. What will Stu do? How does Stu respond to the sniper? Watch the film and you will not be disappointed.
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The Performances:
# Colin Farell as Stuart Sheppard. Primarily this movie was all about him and he has done an excellent job. He was able to express fear, arrogance and defeat with equal ease. I was given to understand that this role was initially supposed to be performed by Will Smith or Jim Carrey. Wonder how they would have matched Collins’ impeccable performance?
# Kiefer Sutherland as the voice over of the sniper. Nothing much to comment as this was not an acting role.
# Radha Mitchell as Kelly Sheppard – the wife of Stu. This was a sidey role. I was curious just because of the indianness in her name.
# Katie Holmes as Pam, the wannabe actress. Insignificant role.
# Adam as the sidekick of Stu – his subdued performance highlighted the arrogance of Stu.
# Forest Whitaker as Captain Ramay who is in charge of this crime scene. The entire police force misunderstands Stu and thinks him to be the culprit – Ramay thinks otherwise and wants to deal the case in a different way. Does he succeed?
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Highlights:
# The change from arrogance, to defeat in Stu’s attitude when he is made to expose his shallow life and confess to all his wrong doings.
# The script was fast paced and usage of split screens when conversations were taking place was a very effective tool.
Lowlights:
The language was very foul at times and was unnecessary.
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After watching this film, I will think twice before reaching out for the ringing phone. Maybe I will get all my phones fitted with Caller Ids. Will you? I am sure, You will.