Phone Booth
by Joel Schumacher
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DVD details
Actor: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, Kiefer Sutherland, Radha MitchellDirector: Joel Schumacher
Brand: TCFHE
Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique
Editor: Mark Stevens
Producer: David Zucker
Producer: Eli Richbourg
Producer: Gil Netter
Producer: Ted Kurdyla
Writer: Larry Cohen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-08
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Phone Booth
DVD Review: Might have been better as a Twilight Zone episode
Summary: 2 Stars
Alfred Hitchcock's name appears again and again in reviews of Phone Booth on Amazon, and not by accident. He was known for his ability to work within the narrow confines of a single "room" and a few characters, with nothing but dialogue and character development to create tension. He would often explore the darker recesses of humanity in suspenseful morality plays. What makes his work so compelling to this day is his capability of drawing out the most sinister of acts from seemingly normal characters with sympathetic motives (and vice versa), as well as the depth of his characters in general. His morality plays didn't sit an obvious antagonist down under a bright light and make them sweat and confess. Killers were never simply bad guys with black hats. Hitchcock allowed the characters to reveal themselves gradually rather than painting them with broad strokes from the beginning and giving them expectations to fulfill, and instead gave them depth and complexity. It's watching the film which gradually reveals to you who these people really are, and it's often the conscience of the antagonist that is their undoing.
The original television series of The Twilight Zone ran after Hitchcock had been established, and in a similar vein to a lot of the contemporary thrillers of the day, but with a few distinctions. The genre was science fiction, and most of the stories were simple morality plays instead of murder mystery or suspense. The episodes for nearly all seasons were only a half hour in length, which was just the right amount of time to establish a premise, create a (un)sympathetic character and reveal their sins in harsh black and white. The confession moment so prevalent in mysteries wasn't necessary, as the genre of science fiction allowed for novel (though contrived) plot developments, and the outcome was the punishment. It was melodrama, but that's all it was supposed to be, and it was (for the most part) done very well. Rod Serling was fantastic at his craft, but his style was much more direct than Hitchcock, in his character development and especially in his method of the morality play. There was never any ambiguity (save for the obvious), and by the end the guilty were justly punished, but abstractly through events or their own conscience- not by some other person who had it in for them, which would only serve to distract from the main character. Only one season featured hour long episodes, which may indicate that even an hour was a little too much time for the type of stories Serling liked to tell.
I haven't said anything so far about the film I'm reviewing... I am not sure that Hitchcock would have directed such a film as Phone Booth. Yes, there is some character development in Colin Farrell's publicist, but the sniper remains the disembodied voice of conscience as well as the consistent source of many deus ex machina plot developments, and sometimes even the narrator. The problem is that the sniper is undoubtedly a sinister character right from the beginning - he is an unreliable narrator, which is not necessarily a flaw, but making that work is difficult and doesn't pan out here. We are supposed to believe that his lackluster history in the performing arts made him so disgruntled as to want to set up a small time slimeball publicist in such an elaborate way, which is unfortunately all we ever learn about him. He's killed people for their sins before, we learn, although why he picked them isn't clear. Despite the flimsy backstory, there is very little questioning of the conscience of the sniper, which would make for much more interesting character development and narration. Instead we get to hear him cackle and toy with his victim, similar to 24 and horror films like Saw and their contemporaries- ham-fisted modern versions of the morality play with a disembodied voice acting as God or the Judge, a conscience, to draw out a confession and dole out punishment.
In fact, at various points Kiefer Sutherland's disembodied voice was so melodramatic it brought to mind the evil business tycoon Dan Halen in Squidbillies, and at other moments it reminded me of his role in 24. All of which is to say, this is not very sophisticated stuff, and in some ways this is kind of a mean-spirited take on some rather mundane misdeeds by the victim (who, for instance, thought about cheating on his wife but never did). I understand this was meant to be character development, that we feel some sympathy for the publicist by the end, but it's the inevitable outcome of this type of simplistic morality play.
It's worth mentioning that, at the outset of the film, the only character who has committed serious crimes against his fellow humans is the sniper. Yet he is supposed to be the conscience who punishes his victims for crimes against their fellow humans, which pale in comparison. But there is nothing of the rogue about him, nothing to make him more human and sympathetic, so we're left with a flat personality who seems more of a sociopath than a hero. But this might just be the development of the killer character in slasher films, the conscience role taken to an extreme, to become the judge, jury and executioner of what and whom he perceives to be immoral, with no depth to the killer's character beyond the revenge fantasy. It often seems like those stories are the product of some people's fantasies of taking revenge for all the petty indignities they have to endure, and all the awful people they meet every day and the terrible things they do, which is, well, all of us and all our flaws. It's like watching someone indulge in an adolescent daydream best unspoken- someone who doesn't like people all that much, when it comes down to it. It tells me more about them than the characters they created.
One lesson both Serling and Hitchcock teach about the thriller/suspense genre is that building tension, revelation and punishment are all more compelling than redemption. Without revealing too much, Phone Booth did not learn that lesson. A few tense moments kept me engaged, but the last half of the film meandered and failed to do much besides drive home a heavy handed moral message through the sniper's voice. The idea that the sniper would continue to act as some watchful eye didn't reassure me. I get the feeling that somewhere in the development of this movie, someone felt very strongly about the type of character Farrell is supposed to represent and decided it might be funny if a sniper took him out. Or maybe it would be even more entertaining to watch him squirm and try to get a confession, and, hey, shoot a pimp in the process- no loss, right? It's as if there is real contempt for the people portrayed, much more than is deserved and can sustain my sympathies for anyone involved.
Phone Booth isn't original, but that isn't a problem in itself. Other films since Hitchcock's Rope have used one room as a setting and just a few characters to build and maintain suspense, such as Dog Day Afternoon. Besides the obvious fact that the cast is outstanding, what makes a film like Dog Day Afternoon work is the characters and how strange they turn out to be. The would-be robber has a complex life and is clearly way over his head, but he has just the right kind of motivation to go overboard and take it as far as it can go. He's someone you can understand and sympathize with, even though he's living a chaotic life and is not managing his problems very well- you surely wouldn't want to be him. You know what's coming but can't help but be on his side as he walks the tightrope in the situation he created, trying his best to control the outcome. The sniper in Phone Booth has very little depth, which is unfortunate because he is potentially the most interesting character of the film. The character is wasted on a paper-thin role of the Voice of Conscience. The best moment of the movie is when things don't look so certain for the sniper, but it never ends up revealing anything we don't already know.
As my title suggests, the premise of Phone Booth might have worked well for the original series of The Twilight Zone. Chances are Serling would have trimmed the story down to its elements, maybe opted for the phone booth being an incognito time machine and removing the sniper character, and made it work in 25 minutes, which is all the time anyone needs to tell this story. If Hitchcock had made this film, it would have been about the sniper or perhaps someone who is watching the sniper. As it is, Phone Booth is not terrible, but it fails to be a great film or even decent. Colin Farrell turns out a better performance than I expected and is not bad on the whole- save his accent. Kiefer Sutherland has serious presence in voiceover, but his character ends up being irritating, unfortunately, and a bit overdone. All other characters are ancillary at best with serviceable performances. It's mediocre and too long at 81 minutes.
Description of Phone Booth
Synopsis:Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 09/11/07
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
By some lucky quirk of fate, Phone Booth landed on Hollywood's A-list, but this thriller should've been a straight-to-video potboiler directed by its screenwriter, veteran schlockmeister Larry Cohen, who's riffing on his own 1976 thriller God Told Me To. Instead it's a pointless reunion for fast-rising star Colin Farrell and his Tigerland director, Joel Schumacher, who employs a multiple-image technique similar to TV's 24 to energize Cohen's pulpy plot about an unseen sniper (maliciously voiced by 24's Kiefer Sutherland) who pins his chosen victim (a philandering celebrity publicist played by Farrell) in a Manhattan phone booth, threatening murder if Farrell doesn't confess his sins (including a potential mistress played by Katie Holmes in a thankless role). In a role originally slated for Jim Carrey, Farrell brings vulnerable intensity to his predicament, but Cohen's irresistible premise is too thin for even 81 brisk minutes, which is how long Schumacher takes to reach his morally repugnant conclusion. --Jeff Shannon
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