The Caller

Critics Consensus

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13%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 16

19%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 334

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Movie Info

When a whistle-blowing executive at an international energy firm prepares to expose his company's corrupt practices in Latin America, he secretly hires a private detective to track his every move for fear that he will be killed for his bold transgression. Jimmy Stevens (Frank Langella) has had enough of the lies and deception, and now he's going to something about it. He also knows that chances are good he'll pay the ultimate price for doing what he's about to do, so as a form of insurance Jimmy hires private detective Frank Turlotte (Elliott Gould) to keep a close tab on him. But Frank doesn't realize that the man who hired him and the man he was told to trail are one in the same, and as the paths of the two men begin to intertwine, the secrets of the past offer clues to the mysteries of the future. Mulholland Drive star Laura Harring co-stars in a twisting neo-noir thriller from A Hole in One director Richard Ledes.

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Cast

Elliott Gould
as Frank Turlotte
Frank Langella
as Jimmy Stevens
Laura Harring
as Eileen
Anabel Sosa
as Lila
Axel Feldman
as Young Jimmy
Edoardo Ballerini
as Teddy
Chandler Williams
as Sammy
Axel Feldmann
as Young Jimmy
Helen Stenborg
as Jimmy's Mother
Grégory Ellis
as Lulu
Corey Johnson
as Paul Wainsail
Robert Bagnell
as Jeff
David Ballog
as Peter
Jean Brassard
as Young Jimmy's Father
Julia Carothers Hughes
as Attractive Girl
Maria-Jose Davo
as Waitress
Kyle Emelander
as Restaurant Doorman
Laura Holloway
as Secretary
Edward James Hyland
as John
Julie Jones Ivey
as Religious Young Woman
Devin Luke
as Limo Driver
Charles Nordeen
as Waiter
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News & Interviews for The Caller

Critics Consensus: Friday the 13th Feels Too Familiar
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Critic Reviews for The Caller

All Critics (16) | Top Critics (6)

  • IF Frank Langella hadn't received an Oscar nomination for "Frost/Nixon," it's pretty doubtful that an opaque oddity like Richard Ledes' The Caller would have managed even a one-week vanity booking at the Quad.

    Feb 13, 2009 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

    Lou Lumenick

    New York Post
    Top Critic

  • A corporate crime drama that runs fatally amok.

    Feb 13, 2009 | Rating: 1.5/5

    Stephen Holden

    New York Times
    Top Critic

  • There's a vaguely appealing elegance to the way the film moves -- that is, when the actors stop spouting laughably portentous dialogue long enough for one to appreciate the film's pacing.

    Feb 11, 2009 | Rating: 2/6

    Karina Longworth

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • The Caller is a loopy, talky, 92-minute two-hander with Elliott Gould and Frank Langella (on a downward spiral following his juicy triumph in Frost/Nixon), written and directed by a force to forget called Richard Ledes.

    Feb 11, 2009 | Full Review…

    Rex Reed

    Observer
    Top Critic

  • We're left to wonder why we're watching Gould scramble for clues to a mystery we've been given the solution to.

    Feb 10, 2009 | Full Review…

    Aaron Hillis

    Village Voice
    Top Critic

  • Frank Langella's note-perfect, tour-de-force turn as a man elegantly shaping his own demise is nicely counterpointed by a shambling Elliott Gould as a bird-watching private eye.

    May 6, 2008 | Full Review…

    Ronnie Scheib

    Variety
    Top Critic
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Audience Reviews for The Caller

  • Mar 11, 2010
    In "The Caller," Jimmy Stevens(Frank Langella), who after many years of being corrupt, has a crisis of conscience that causes him to not only blow the whistle on his employers in the energy industry, but also publicly expose them as the murdering scumbags they really are. This action does not come without a price as they would like him to take a trip to Red Hook. In return, he asks for two weeks in which he hires Frank Turlotte(Elliott Gould), a private investigator and birdwatcher, to trail him. "The Caller" almost succeeds solely on the merits of Frank Langella's quietly commanding performance. Overall, the movie is too modest to successfully connect its thoughts on World War II, 9/11, heightened security and oil companies into a coherent statement. Otherwise, there is not much else of interest, as it tips its hand too early when it should have instead patiently allowed the details of Jimmy's life to slowly unfold through Frank's eyes. As it is, Frank's observations verge on the unbelievably unprofessional, critiquing Jimmy as the epitome of boring.(Not to judge the watcher, but this comes from a solitary man who prefers the company of birds to humans.) There is a little bit in Frank that is endearing in finding simple pleasures in unexpected places in New York City but the film narrowly defines the city as Manhattan. It is Brooklyn where Jimmy is forced to go to.
    Walter M Super Reviewer
  • Feb 21, 2010
    Pretty cool movie a Private Investigator is hired by a man who wants the PI to follow someone, who the man who hired him. Twist and turns throughout. I enjoyed the suspense and Drama I'd give it 4 stars
    Bruce B Super Reviewer
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