April 6, 2003 -- "Phone Booth" is a suspenseful thriller that takes place mostly inside of a phone booth in New York. If that sounds like tight quarters, it is, but it works, thanks mainly to the actor inside that phone booth, Collin Farrell, who plays sleazy publicist Stu Shepard. The actors outside the booth are pretty good, too, including Kiefer Sutherland, the voice on the phone, and police Captain Ramey (played by Forrest Whitaker). There is enough stuff happening on the street outside the phone booth to keep things interesting with attacks by pimps and hookers, swarms of police and TV news crews and others.

Shepard takes a call at the phone booth, where he places a call to his girlfriend, Pamela McFadden (Katie Holmes of "The Gift") every day. By using the phone booth, Shepard's wife, Kelly (Radha Mitchell of "Pitch Black") won't be able to track the call on his cell phone bill. Shepard thought nobody knew about this trick, but somebody does. Somebody knows all about him and this mysterious killer with a high powered rifle has decided that Shepard needs to pay for his sins. The mysterious caller won't let Shepard out of the booth or out of his rifle sight. The rifleman wants Shepard to apologize for his sins and to promise not to lie in the future. He seems to enjoy making Shepard squirm. He makes Shepard admit his misdeeds in public.

The rifleman kills a man near the phone booth, but mistaken witnesses think Shepard is the one who killed the man. Police want Shepard to step out of the phone booth and toss out his gun. Shepard doesn't have a gun and he knows he will be shot if he tries to leave the phone booth. Veteran director Joel Schumacher ("Tigerland") keeps the suspense as tight as a piano wire during the standoff. Farrell does a great job of carrying the story and Sutherland's voice is quite menacing. Farrell covers a lot of emotional ground in his performance, from a confidence street-smart huckster at the beginning, to an emotional wreck at the end of the film. He is very good at portraying panic, guilt and emotional vulnerability. Whitaker also is effective as the beleaguered cop trying to figure out why Shepard is acting the way he is.

This is a screenplay (by Larry Cohen) which maintains plenty of suspense, but it doesn't stand up under close scrutiny. For instance, the rifleman is not only a marksman of unbelievable accuracy, but he also has an unusual expertise in communications technology. He hard-wires encryption devices into the circuit of the pay phone which make it almost impossible to trace his call. A guy with this much skill ought to be able to get a good job, but supposedly he is an out-of-work malcontent. Good pacing and high suspense keeps the audience from having any time to think about the gaps in the plot, however. The cinematography by Matthew Libatique ("Requiem for a Dream") uses camera motion to good effect to lend energy and a sense of urgency to the narrative. This effective thriller further establishes Collin Farrell as one of the best young actors working today. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2003 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.