MOVIE - PHONE BOOTH - Review Rating $$$$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING- Colin Farrell (Stu), Kiefer Sutherland (caller/sniper), Forest Whitaker (Capt. Ramey), Radha Mitchell & Katie Holmes.
DIRECTOR - Joel Schumacher (Tigerland, Flawless, 8MM & Bad Company)
A self-styled vigilante sniper takes a disliking to an obnoxious publicist.
Phone Booth is a very frustrating moviegoing experience. An interesting concept, reasonably well executed that lacks a meaningful purpose.
Phone Booth has to be given credit for having a script smart enough to answer almost all of the nagging questions that arise along the way. The only thing they get wrong, and it had to be presented this way to justify later developments, is the issue of the phone tap. Exigent circumstances could easily have been relied on to justify tapping the phone without a warrant.
The premise of Phone Booth, if you hang up your dead, creates an inherently intense plot. The movie, however, manages to squander its tension quota fairly early on. There are two interrelated reasons for this. First, when was the last time you saw a mainstream Hollywood movie without a happy ending? Second, it quickly becomes apparent that Phone Booth isn't exactly a meaningful commentary on the times we live in.
Normally, I'm a fan of movies that manage to tell complex tales in a reasonable period of time (less than two hours). However, at only 81 minutes, Phone Booth demonstrates the limits of brevity. Four of the five central characters, in Phone Booth, are inadequately developed.
It took over four years to get Phone Booth made and released. My advice, waiting a few more months for the DVD rental won't kill you.
Running time - 81 minutes
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4:42:31 AM 
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