The Call (2013)

When a veteran 911 operator takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life.

Director:

Brad Anderson

Writers:

Richard D'Ovidio (screenplay), Richard D'Ovidio (story)

Stars:

Halle Berry, Evie Thompson, Abigail Breslin

1 win & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Halle Berry	...	Jordan Turner
Abigail Breslin	...	Casey Welson
Morris Chestnut	...	Officer Paul Phillips
Michael Eklund	...	Michael Foster
David Otunga	...	Officer Jake Devans
Michael Imperioli	...	Alan Denado
Justina Machado	...	Rachel
José Zúñiga	...	Marco
Roma Maffia	...	Maddy
Evie Thompson	...	Leah Templeton (as Evie Louise Thompson)
Denise Dowse	...	Flora
Ella Rae Peck	...	Autumn
Jenna Lamia	...	Brooke
Ross Gallo	...	Josh
Tara Platt	...	Female Trainee

Storyline

Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue, but then teenager Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) is abducted and calls 911. Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to try to help Casey escape and also to make sure the man is brought to justice.

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Plot Keywords:

child kidnapping | 911 call | pixelated nudity | 21th century | child abduction | 

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Taglines:

There are 188 million 911 calls a year. This one made it personal.

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, disturbing content and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Hive

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,118,745, 17 March 2013, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$51,872,378

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,572,378

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures,Stage 6 Films,Troika Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening scene, one of the callers into the 911 centre states "I think I'm having an overdose and so is my wife" - the line made famous by Edward Sanchez, a policeman who confiscated marijuana from a suspect and then made brownies with it. He called 911 when he thought he had taken too much.

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Goofs

During training other staff, the 911 caller (Halle Berry) incorrectly says that the suicide rate is highest during Christmas. This is false. Suicide rates are highest in Spring.

From Psychology Today: "Contrary to popular belief, the suicide rate peaks in the springtime, not the wintertime. This is probably because the rebirth that marks springtime accentuates feelings of hopelessness in those already suffering with it. In contrast, around Christmas time most people with suicidal thoughts are offered some degree of protection by the proximity of their relatives and, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, the prospect of 'things getting better from here'."

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Quotes

Jordan Turner: Casey, what's happening?

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Connections

References Bridesmaids (2011)

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Soundtracks

Puttin' On the Ritz
Written by Irving Berlin
Performed by Taco Ockerse (as Taco)
Courtesy of Peer-Southern Productions, Inc.

User Reviews

Do Yourself A Favor, and Don't Waste Your Money

I saw this 2 days before it was released because I won a free screening of the film, and I figured it couldn't be that bad. I went in with low expectations and this movie met those expectations. I'll try to avoid doling out spoilers, but just be wary of the next few paragraphs.

Simply on a plot based level, its very cliché. Halle Berry is a 911 operator in LA, who just happens to look so much better than everyone in the building, who makes a serious mistake that gets a caller killed. She ends up being emotionally scarred from this. Wait- stop me if you've heard this one.

Then, Abigail Breslin gets kidnapped after exchanging some terrible dialogue with another similar aged girl-the dialogue sounds more like something you'd hear from teenage guys on an irregular basis with lines like "I'm starving like a motherf**ker" and "He totally wants to bone you." So Breslin calls 911 and gets a newbie operator. The newbie freaks out and so Halle Berry steps in, begging the question of why anyone in their right mind would let someone take a similar call to the scarring call that happened only 6 months ago.

There are plenty of moments like this in here where the viewer is left to wonder "Does that even make sense?". There are cops overreacting, irrational and risky moves by the heads of the 911 operator office, and the movie tops it all off with Halle Berry making the dumbest decision anybody could make, which is something that everyone has seen in these movies before and not many will be surprised by it.

Speaking of surprises, the big plot twist of the movie is in the plot description here on IMDb, even though the twist was a fairly predictable move in the beginning. The whole movie ends up playing out like a bad episode of Criminal Minds, trying too hard to be a psychological thriller.

The ending is terrible, by the way. My father, who I saw this with and actually somewhat enjoyed it (his exact words were "It wasn't bad for a free movie") admitted that the ending was hokey and bad. It suddenly changes both Berry's and Breslin's characters and takes away any protagonistic features they possessed with one action. When the screen cut to black and the credits showed, somebody stood up in the audience and screamed "That was the worst ending ever!" and many laughed in agreement. As I left, I overheard people pointing out many of the logical flaws I too had noticed.

So go see this if you don't mind having your intelligence insulted. But if you're like me and plan on only spending your money on things that are worth it, do yourself a favor and don't see this.