Own the rights?
Whoopi Goldberg gets a great character-name here(Vashti Blue)and perhaps had an opportunity to really cut loose in a movie like she used to do on-stage in her pre-"Color Purple" days, but "The Telephone" is out-of-order(to be charitable). Goldberg plays an actress with a pet owl(!)who spends her time arguing on the horn. She's neurotic, but not funny. Director Rip Torn was apparently in way over his head(didn't he do his homework and research Goldberg's style? If so, he didn't use a smidgen of it here). There's nothing wrong with a plot less movie--just so long as it provides something of interest, like, say, some good jokes. The screenplay(by Harry Nilsson and Terry Southern, of all people)doesn't even offer any promise. Whoopi's mere presence gives the movie an edge, but it's as shapeless and static a film as I've ever seen.
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