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Movies / On DVD / Phone Booth
Phone Booth

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Phone Booth (2003)

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Reviews Counted:182

Fresh:130

Rotten:52

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Quick pacing and Farrell's performance help make Phone Booth a tense nail-biter.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for pervasive language and some violence

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 4, 2003 Wide

Box Office: $46,524,362

Synopsis: Red-hot superstar Colin Farrell ("Daredevil," "The Recruit") toplines the thriller PHONE BOOTH, from director Joel Schumacher. A phone call can change your life, but for one man it can also end it.... Red-hot superstar Colin Farrell ("Daredevil," "The Recruit") toplines the thriller PHONE BOOTH, from director Joel Schumacher. A phone call can change your life, but for one man it can also end it. Set entirely within and around the confines of a New York City phone booth, PHONE BOOTH follows Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), a low-rent media consultant who is trapped after being told by a caller - a serial killer with a sniper rifle - that he'll be shot dead if he hangs up.

What do you do when you hear a ringing public phone? You know it's a wrong number, but instinct forces you to pick it up. A ringing phone demands to be answered, but when Stu Shepard takes the call, he finds himself hurtled into a tortuous game. Hang up, says the caller (Kiefer Sutherland), and Stu's a dead man.

A sudden and shocking act of violence near the booth draws the attention of the police, who arrive backed with a small army of sharpshooters. They believe that Stu, not the unseen caller of whom they remain unaware, is the dangerous man with a gun.

The senior officer on the scene, Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker), tries to talk Stu out of the booth. But unbeknownst to Ramey, his team, the media circus that has flocked to the site - and Stu's wife, Kelly, and his client /prospective girlfriend, Pamela - the caller has them all in his high-powered rifle sights.

As afternoon turns into evening, Stu, the embodiment of an unethical, self-serving existence, must now undertake a sudden and unexpected moral evolution. He is emotionally stripped naked by the caller. Stu's lies, half-truths, and obfuscation no longer matter. Instead, he must dig deep into his soul, find his strength and attempt to outwit the caller, taking the game to an even more dangerous level. -- © Fox [More]

Starring: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, Katie Holmes

Starring: Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, Katie Holmes, Radha Mitchell, Tia Texada, Richard T. Jones

Director: Joel Schumacher

Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Larry Cohen
Producer: David Zucker, Gil Netter
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Release:

Jul 8, 2003

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Reviews for Phone Booth

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/30/03
Empire Magazine

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
04/01/03
Film Threat

It's surreal, at times totally far-fetched, but as a weird Twilight Zone-y tale, this short, taut trip keeps you hanging on.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/04/03
E! Online

Schumacher keeps the suspense building at such a fast pace that there's little time to pick holes in the plot while the action unfolds.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
04/04/03
Reel.com

Gripping in parts, tedious in others, the film works best when the action is brisk.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/04/03
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
04/04/03
Hollywood.com
N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
04/04/03
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
04/20/03
Guardian [UK]
N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmFour.com | comment Comment
04/21/03
FilmFour.com
N/R

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Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
05/30/03
Sydney Morning Herald

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

It's amazing how Phone Booth hits its dramatic peak at the end of the first act and then descends into standard thrillerisms.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
04/20/03
Adam Nayman
Adam Nayman
eye WEEKLY

Phone Booth is escapist entertainment at its most pure. The film has a raw energy that doesn't let up. [It’s] a wild ride at the box office, and the first 'can't miss' flick of 2003.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
04/01/03
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
04/19/03
Alexander Walker
Alexander Walker
This is London

You're sitting there thinking that this is just silly. But gosh darn if there isn't something about PHONE BOOTH that makes you want to see what's going to happen next.

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/07/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Farrell and Sutherland deliver such strong performances that it's easy to overlook the script's melodramatic dialogue and insane lapses of reality.

Full Review Source: Radio Free Entertainment | comment Comment
09/09/03
Andrew Manning
Andrew Manning
Radio Free Entertainment
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
04/04/03
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Raises more questions than it answers as it attempts to convince us that a moralistic sniper would torture a sleazy publicist into tears of guilt and remorse over what amounts to a few paltry, venial sins.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
05/16/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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Latest News for Phone Booth

July 20, 2007: Larry Cohen Plans Remakes of It's Alive, Black Caesar, and The Stuff
Long before he wrote movies like "Phone Booth," "Cellular," and (ugh) "Captivity," filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just... More...

February 07, 2007: Joel Schumacher Wants to Direct Neil Gaiman's "Sandman"???
At last year's Comic Con, writer/artist Neil Gaiman said "I'd rather no Sandman movie got made than [to have] a bad Sandman movie." And now comes word that director... More...

January 19, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Spear," "New World" Are OK, Not Great
This week at the movies brings us three culture clashes: Native Americans and Europeans ("The New World"), the Waodani people of Ecuador and a group of missionaries... More...

May 09, 2005: Elisha Cuthbert Bound for "Captivity"
Variety brings news of the currently young and hot Elisha Cuthbert's next big role. Only a few days removed from the opening of her "House of Wax," Ms. Cuthbert has... More...

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