Customer Reviews

Phone Booth

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

How bad can you get. This is one of the worst movies in history! There is no plot. The police wouln't just stand there, they would all go out and storm the booth. This movie isn't realistic at all.

This is a movie that I put off watching for a long time, because it sounded really boring. Trap a man in a phone booth, and talk him to death? Yawn.

I finally watched it with the rationale that it is Colin Farrell in the booth, and therefore would not be another "My Dinner with Andre" kind of movie.

While I've seen better movies, this one kept my attention, and I would never consider it to be 81 minutes of my life irretrievably lost. Colin Farrell is brilliant as Stu Shepard, but the rest of the cast fails to register on the "Wow" scale. Katie Holmes is cute, but horribly miscast, and Forest Whitaker won't be putting this one down as one of his better performances. Nobody else even registers, except of course the caller, who has a suitably creepy voice.

The concept is intriguing, as a mystery caller with a wealth of technology and information seeks to right the wrongs of the world, one slime-ball at a time. Worse offenders must have crossed his path, but for some strange reason, he decides to target Shepard for the "crimes" of fantasizing and nearly cheating on his wife, for faking his success, and for not being nice to people in general. After Shepard manages to tip off the police, and they finally realize that something's not right with the scenario, the movie wraps up in an untidy hurry.

The major let down for me was the prominent billing for Keifer Sutherland, even with his face in the cover shot, so you definitely knew something was wrong by the time you got to the end, said end being quite unsatisfying.

Plot holes abound, but if you can get past them, you will enjoy Farrell's performance.

Amanda Richards 7/12/04

As with many other films, Phone Booth fell short on its potential. Instead of expanding the horizons of the movie, the director (Joel Schumacher) decided to cut the film in half. Don't get me wrong; I was on pins and needles waiting to see what was going to happen next. But at the conclusion of the movie, I looked at my watch and noticed that it was only 88 minutes long. Katie Holmes' character was a waste at best. I kept waiting to see why the hell she was in the movie at all. However the two main stars (Colin Farrell and Keifer Sutherland) were superb. Keifer had me forget about his day job (the hero on 24). He was back to his evil ways, just where he is at his best. Colin Farrell seems to be getting stronger as an actor but he needs to do a movie that will let him spread his wings.

Hang on to your seats folks. Slip this 2002 film into your DVD player and you're in for a ride of a lifetime. It kept me totally involved with my eyes glued to the screen for every one of its 88 minutes, which seemed to fly by in an instant. Funny thing is that this is a simple film, with bascially only one scene and just a few excellent actors. I loved it.

Colin Farrell is cast as a fast-talking publicist who we first meet on the streets of New York, doing elaborate deals and telling lies into his cell phone. He's full of ego and thinks he's on top of the world. However, every day at the same time, he stops into a phone booth to call a young actress who he is romancing. She doesn't know he's married, and he doesn't tell her. When he's ready to leave the booth, the phone rings. He picks it up. Big mistake.

Now we hear the voice of a sniper who's in one of the buildings near the booth. He wants the publicist to confess his infidelities to his wife and girlfriend and threatens to kill him if he doesn't follow instructions. What follows is an intense drama in which the tension never lets up. The screenplay by Larry Cohen is tightly conceived and there isn't a wasted word or a superfluous character. And Colin Farrell shines in his role, which has to be an actor's dream.

Kiefer Sutherland is cast as the caller and Forrest Whitiker as the cop who is in charge of the police action on the scene. Radha Mitchell is cast as the wife, Katie Holmes is the girlfriend. And one of the best scenes in the film is when a trio of hookers demand to use the phone booth. All the acting is excellent. And the New York City atmosphere is definitely authentic.

I can't say enough good things about this film. It even has a moral to it. Highly recommended.

Very powerful performances by Farrell and Whitaker and Sutherland (the voice)!!

I have watched it a few times, and I'll admit to getting choked up every time Farrell delivers his soliloquy at the end. He admits to having weakness and to feeling small and to using material wealth to compensate for feelings of inadequacy -- those are real expressions of our humanity that most people would find impossible.

The Picture Quality of this Blu Ray is great. There are very few grainy scenes and as more as I got into the movie the more I forgot about them and actually can't remember which particular scene it was that had some.. I'm betting it's a phone booth scene lol.

I didn't have this movie on DVD and had not seen this movie in several years so it was an easy choice to make due to the price and picture quality search result of each Blu Ray I purchase. I liked the movie and I loved it's picture quality.

The disk:
- great 1080p transfer
- the only special feature is the commentary track.

The movie:
Decent movie with a good cast.

Colin Farrell's accent was interesting to say the least. The intro of the movie was cheesy. The laser-scope visual effects couldn't have looked more fake and really pulled me out of the movie.

The casting was great though... love the guy on the phone (I won't say who it is just in case you don't know). Forest Whitaker is amazing... as I've come to expect from the fine actor.

this movie just didn't do it for me.it's supposed to be thrilling and
suspenseful,but i found it to be neither.i can't put my finger on why
it didn't work for me,it just didn't.as you can probably tell from the
title,the focus of the movie is a phone booth,and that's where most of
the movie takes place.not only did i not like the movie very much,it
was also way too short(81 minutes).the fact that most of the movie
takes place in a phone booth isn't the problem.like i said,there's
nothing tangible i can point to.this is one movie that is a mystery to
me.i don't think there's anything wrong with the direction by Joel
Schumacher,either.Larry Cohen wrote the script,and that's not the
problem.maybe the problem is that the main character isn't very likable
and the movie feels too rushed.either way,i'll give Phone Booth a 2/5

The story is a simple one. Stu is a wide boy, shallow and selfish. One day he hears a phone ringing in a public booth and answers it. The caller tells him not to hang up or he will die. For once, Stu seems unable to talk his way out of a situation and, from initially being belligerent and cocky; he becomes increasingly afraid for his life.

It doesn't sound much of a tale but the film is surprisingly good, thanks in the main to the strong leads (Farrell and Keifer Sutherland). The director manages to keep a good pace going, in spite of the limitations of the set, and the film manages to maintain the tension throughout. It is certainly something a little different from the usual 'thriller' movie and definitely worth 81 minutes of anyones time.

This movie is ssooooo baddd and so long! for nothing, more than a hour the guy is in the Phone Booth talking, really sad.

:(