Phone Booth (2002)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Joel Schumacher

Writer (WGA):

Larry Cohen (written by)

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A ringing phone has to be answered.

Plot:

Stuart Shepard finds himself trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by an extortionist's sniper rifle.

Plot Keywords:

Publicist | Sniper | Sniper Rifle | New York City | Hostage

Awards:

7 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 14	10:00 PM	MTV
Sun. Nov. 15	12:00 AM	MTV

Cast

Colin Farrell	...	Stu Shepard
Kiefer Sutherland	...	The Caller
Forest Whitaker	...	Captain Ed Ramey
Radha Mitchell	...	Kelly Shepard
Katie Holmes	...	Pamela McFadden
Paula Jai Parker	...	Felicia
Arian Waring Ash	...	Corky (as Arian Ash)
Tia Texada	...	Asia
John Enos III	...	Leon
Richard T. Jones	...	Sergeant Cole
Keith Nobbs	...	Adam
Dell Yount	...	Pizza Guy
James MacDonald	...	Negotiator
Josh Pais	...	Mario
Yorgo Constantine	...	ESU Commander

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language and some violence.

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Swahili

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #39201) | Sweden:11 | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Germany:12 (cut) | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Australia:MA (original rating) | Australia:M (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | Finland:K-15 | Mexico:B15 | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Fox 2000 Pictures

Trivia:

The word "fuck" is said 143 times.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When the caller/sniper gets a bit twitchy, threatening to shoot Stu's wife and the police officers, we hear him cocking the rifle five separate times. At no point do we hear him un-cocking the rifle between those moments, but he would have to physically cock and load the rifle every time he needs to fire a round. But since there are two rifles in play (one left with the dead pizza guy, and one the Caller carries in the final scene), the Caller could easily have had an empty rifle that he cocked, seeing how he uses the sound to intimidate Stu.

Quotes:

[Stu is not answering The Caller]
The Caller: Stu, don't do this. Please, come on. My sainted mother used to do this. She used to dish this out... Stu, please don't this. Stu, you're bringing back my unhappy childhood. Stu, talk to me, please! Talk to me! I can't take it Stu... Ahh!
[the Caller laughs]
The Caller: I'm kidding. I had a very happy childhood.

Movie Connections:

References "Bette" (2000)

Soundtrack:

Operator

Gosh! And 10 days was all it took to be filmed!!

Colin Farrell is a self-professed star publicist with an attitude to boot. Watch 81 minutes of gut-wrenching nerve-wracking dialog reduce a pretentious "kiss my ass" punk into an enervated and regretful reprobate. Farrell is simply awesome in portraying the gravity of the situation. "The Caller"'s voice is absolutely worth a mention. Calm, creepy and authoritative ! Something different and the movie would have fallen flat on its 'flab less' anterior. Sutherland plays 'The Caller' , manning a high profile sniper rifle ,while he thrusts honesty upon Stu Shephard(Colin Farrell). Frankly, I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen for a second.

Ebert himself was marveled by the creativity of "Phone Booth" . Why !It wasn't without sufficient reason ! A gaudy character stuck inside a phone booth in a busy locale , some good camera work , bunch of apartment windows, a psycho sniper and 10 days of excellent filming supported by a 'worth a mention' cast easily will manage to get into a good bundle of "top ten" lists. Fabulous entertainment and a Good Display of Creativity. Graham Bell is still aiding marvels, I guess!!!