Cellular (2004)

A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. The catch? The woman claims to have been kidnapped; and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.

Director:

David R. Ellis

Writers:

Larry Cohen (story), Chris Morgan (screenplay)

Stars:

Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Caroline Aaron	...	Marilyn Mooney
Kim Basinger	...	Jessica Martin
Brenda Ballard	...	Irate Customer #1
Will Beinbrink	...	Young Security Guard
Jessica Biel	...	Chloe
Chase Ellis Bloch	...	Timid Boy (as Chase Bloch)
Chelsea Ellis Bloch	...	Surf Girl's Friend (as Chelsea Bloch)
Chantille Boudousque	...	Chloe's Chilly Friend
Robin Brenner	...	Excitable Customer
Richard Burgi	...	Craig Martin
Paige Cannon	...	Girl at Concert
Nikki Christian	...	Porsche Girl
John Churchill	...	Young Guard
Greg Collins	...	Aging Security Guard
Valerie Cruz	...	Dana Bayback

Storyline

After dropping her son off at the bus stop, the doting mum and high school science teacher, Jessica Martin, is kidnapped at gunpoint, and thrown in an unknown attic with only a nearly unusable phone. As her world turns upside down in an instant, the desperate mother manages to jury-rig the device and connects with the cell phone of the young college student, Ryan. Now, Jessica's life is literally in Ryan's hands--and as the ruthless abductors threaten to kill her--Ryan has to act fast to rescue the woman on the other end of the line. However, with a dying battery, how can Ryan save Jessica when this could be her last phone call?

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Plot Keywords:

cell phone | police | family in danger | phone conversation | violence | 

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Taglines:

If the signal dies so does she.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror situations, language and some sexual references

Did You Know?

Trivia

Several references to New Line Cinema (the financing studio) throughout the film:

• New Line Chairman Robert Shaye has a cameo as the irate man in the police station.
• Ricky's backpack is that of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).
• At the kidnappers' house, the New Line Cinema movie Final Destination 2 (2003) is playing on the television. It also makes numerous references to the series, such as the truck crashing into Ryan's car (using the same sound effects) and an announcement at the airport referencing a Flight 180, the same flight in the first Final Destination (2000).
• Producer Dean Devlin has a cameo as the cab driver who drives Ryan.

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Goofs

Jessica's husband leaves a message to meet her at a bar in LAX but this bar is beyond security checkpoint and we see Ryan has to snatch a boarding pass to get through security so it would have been impossible for either of them to meet at the bar without a pass.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Ricky Martin: Mom, will you still be a science teacher when I get into high school?
Jessica Martin: Hmm... You never know. Why?
Ricky Martin: 'Cause I think it'd be kind of weird to have your mom as a teacher.

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Crazy Credits

The first part of the closing credits show cast and crew names on cellular telephone screens, in scenes from the film.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Whoopi Goldberg/Zoe Lister-Jones/Lecrae feat. Lalah Hathaway (2016)

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Soundtracks

Sinnerman
Traditional, adapted by Nina Simone
Performed by Nina Simone
Courtesy of Verve Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Very enjoyable

I watched"Cellular" recently in 2015,and I was very satisfied. This film revolves around Jessica(Kim Basinger) she was kidnapped, and she dials a random number which is Ryan's number (Chris Evans) who being coward person , he avoids helping people too .Howeve Ryan will launch in an incredible race against time to save Jessica, as well as he has no idea about what await him.

The film was very amusing,exciting and entertaining. Besides i was well written,well acted and well directed. We as Moroccan people we can watch it with our parents, that's means that this movie does no include scenes which are inappropriate, so "Cellular" can be watched by all age categories.

Personally I think that this film transmit an important message to boys, especially to careless boys.

All in all, I really enjoyed watching this captivating film

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Warner Bros

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cellular

Filming Locations:

Baldwin Hills Mansion, Inglewood Oil Field, Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,600,000, 12 September 2004

Gross USA:

$32,003,620

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$57,678,321

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Electric Entertainment, LFG Filmproduktions & Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1