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Movies / On DVD / Denise Calls Up
Denise Calls Up

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Denise Calls Up (1996)

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77 %
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Reviews Counted: 22

Fresh: 17

Rotten:5

Average Rating: 6.4/10

Runtime: 80 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Director/writer Hal Selwen has fashioned an ingenious film from the use of one simple device: all the dialogue takes place on the phone. This little trick not only forces a great deal of... Director/writer Hal Selwen has fashioned an ingenious film from the use of one simple device: all the dialogue takes place on the phone. This little trick not only forces a great deal of free-wheeling conversation and witty asides, but it also serves as an overarching metaphor for romance in the modern age. The film focuses on six friends who are all too busy to actually see each other; instead, they apologize over the phone for missing this or that event. The comic mayhem percolates as they conduct their romantic entanglements with the help of the phone, fax, and modem. [More]

Starring: Alanna Ubach, Tim Daly, Dana Wheeler, Aida Turturro

Starring: Alanna Ubach, Tim Daly, Dana Wheeler, Aida Turturro, Liev Schreiber, Caroleen Feeney, Dan Gunther, Sylvia Miles

Director: Hal Salwen

Director: Hal Salwen

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 22, 1996

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Denise Calls Up

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A minor but quirkily charming comedy about alientaion, love, and folly that reflects the zeitgeist in terms of AIDS and modern technology.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/19/06
Emanuel Levy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
07/16/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Who'd have thought a movie about people talking on the phone could be so fun?

comment Comment
06/04/04
Sarah Chauncey
Reel.com

No review available.

comment Comment
05/28/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/03
Leonard Schwarz
Palo Alto Weekly
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/17/02
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Salwen has captured and properly identified a very particular modern American species. His emergence as a filmmaker is a true event.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/16/02
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
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Insightful comedy about keeping in touch in the modern world.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
08/27/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Denise Calls Up is, if limited, a surprising success.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Kim Williamson
Boxoffice Magazine

At only 80 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome, but slight though it may be, it knows how to create constant smiles.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/14/01
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As witty as this film is, Salwen can't get around the fact that a movie about people who don't meet saddles a director with a lot of scenes focusing on one person talking to no one but a piece of machinery.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

Yes, the movie is a bunch of skits, all right. But in the end it sketches the more elaborate portrait of funny people who don't realize how funny they really are.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Thompson
Jam! Movies

The conceit of having everyone talk together almost exclusively by cell phone wears out its welcome by the halfway mark.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The film is never really funny-ha-ha, but it never bores the viewer at all thanks to Hal Salwen's direction.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Too slight to be a cautionary fable and not light enough to merit the term 'goofy caper.' But it sits in an enjoyable place of its own.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Hollis Chacona
Austin Chronicle

Might have been more effective if the writer/director had taken the time to create characters imbued with more than token traces of humanity.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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