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

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

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

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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/30/03
Empire Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

Schumacher executes this psychological thriller with a brilliant, cold precision not seen since Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 The Conversation.

Full Review Source: Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) | comment Comment
04/04/03
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

A passable thriller.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
04/04/03
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The next time I hear a payphone ringing, I definitely won't pick it up.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/10/09
Blake French
Blake French
Filmcritic.com

Phone Booth succeeds as a piece of pop escapism -- it’s fresh and different -- but it also squanders an opportunity at something greater because its moral dialogue isn’t ferocious enough.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
04/07/03
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

boasts a single-note plot that evokes tension from its earliest moments and carries it through its svelte 80-minute running time.

Full Review Source: Beach Reporter (Southern California) | comment Comment
04/07/03
Brian J. Arthurs
Brian J. Arthurs
Beach Reporter (Southern California)

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
04/07/03
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
Modamag.com

Like a cold-blooded sniper, it’s right on the mark.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
04/04/03
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

The tension keeps building, creating an 'edge of the seat' experience...and that's no easy accomplishment - when you basically know what's going to happen.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
04/04/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Delivers 81 snappy minutes of thrills.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/03/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A slick, occasionally tense thriller about the potentially deadly ramifications of forgetting one's manners and losing one's morals.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
04/08/03
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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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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