Phone Booth
Stuart Shepard is a slick New York publicist who has a knack for dishonesty. He flirts with young, impressionable clients while he is married, he lies to get his way, he makes promises he knows he can't keep, only to lie his way out of those, as well.
Every day around lunch time, Stuart calls Pam, a particularly attractive young woman who's hoping that Stuart can get her noticed. On this particular day, he hangs up the phone, only to have it ring. He picks it up and hears a chilling voice at the other end of the line, telling him that unless he gives in to the demands set before him, disastrous consequences would occur. Thinking it was just some lame psycho who sits at home with nothing better to do than terrorize people, Stuart blows him off, but then things start to happen. The person on the other end seems to know a lot more than he should...like where Stu lives, where his wife works, Pam's cell number...also, the little red light from a sniper rifle right in the middle of Stu's chest proves that the man on the other end isn't kidding when he says that Stu will be killed if he hangs up.
It turns out that the man on the other line is an extreme moralist...he's noticed Stuart's habits and believes very strongly that his dishonesty is wrong. He slowly and painfully forces Stuart to reveal his sins not only to his wife, but to the world...on pain of death. It reminded me of a book I read by Ted Dekker where the main character keeps getting threatening phone calls and if he doesn't 'confess his sin' something bad will happen.
'Phone Booth' was...ok. I guess it really could have been better. Kiefer Sutherland delivered a brilliant performance as the moral extremist, and Colin Farrell did a good job, too, but the story wasn't all there. No matter how good the actors are, I don't think anyone could have made this one fly. It was just weird. Not much scenery or camera work were involved, because the entire story took place on one city block, but for such a setting, it was all done well. They didn't use very many of the same shots twice, which made it more interesting to watch.
3 stars. Meh. I still love you, Kiefer.
Every day around lunch time, Stuart calls Pam, a particularly attractive young woman who's hoping that Stuart can get her noticed. On this particular day, he hangs up the phone, only to have it ring. He picks it up and hears a chilling voice at the other end of the line, telling him that unless he gives in to the demands set before him, disastrous consequences would occur. Thinking it was just some lame psycho who sits at home with nothing better to do than terrorize people, Stuart blows him off, but then things start to happen. The person on the other end seems to know a lot more than he should...like where Stu lives, where his wife works, Pam's cell number...also, the little red light from a sniper rifle right in the middle of Stu's chest proves that the man on the other end isn't kidding when he says that Stu will be killed if he hangs up.
It turns out that the man on the other line is an extreme moralist...he's noticed Stuart's habits and believes very strongly that his dishonesty is wrong. He slowly and painfully forces Stuart to reveal his sins not only to his wife, but to the world...on pain of death. It reminded me of a book I read by Ted Dekker where the main character keeps getting threatening phone calls and if he doesn't 'confess his sin' something bad will happen.
'Phone Booth' was...ok. I guess it really could have been better. Kiefer Sutherland delivered a brilliant performance as the moral extremist, and Colin Farrell did a good job, too, but the story wasn't all there. No matter how good the actors are, I don't think anyone could have made this one fly. It was just weird. Not much scenery or camera work were involved, because the entire story took place on one city block, but for such a setting, it was all done well. They didn't use very many of the same shots twice, which made it more interesting to watch.
3 stars. Meh. I still love you, Kiefer.
posted by JGreenEyes at 8:04 AM
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