Barnes & Noble

If nothing else, the tautly directed Phone Booth proves that filmmakers don't need hundred-million-dollar budgets, interminable car chases, or repetitive shootouts to produce a genuinely riveting thriller. Working from a script by veteran B-movie scribe Larry Cohen and shooting at lightning speed with a small cast and crew, the normally excessive Joel Schumacher turned out a real sleeper with this briskly paced story. A brash New York publicist (Colin Farrell) is held captive in a Times Square phone booth by an unseen sniper (Kiefer Sutherland), who speaks to him from a nearby building. As the rifleman watches his every move, the publicist is forced to humiliate himself in front of puzzled spectators and the wary police who soon surround him. Schumacher rises to the task of maintaining suspense without resorting to nail-biting action sequences or poorly contrived diversions. He does so by lavishing attention on the carefully calibrated performances of a well-chosen cast. Forest Whitaker is especially fine as the police detective who believes Farrell's character is likely (though not certainly) responsible for the death of an innocent bystander actually slain by the sniper. In just a few brief scenes, Katie Holmes registers strongly as the press agent's mistress, and one wishes she had been more prominently featured. A tense, protracted climax presages the surprise denouement, which brings Phone Booth to an eminently satisfying conclusion. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

One man's life is thrown into turmoil by picking up a telephone in this claustrophobic thriller. Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a brash, cynical, and self-centered public relations man who juggles a busy career with both a wife, Kelly (Radha Mitchell), and a mistress, Pamela (Katie Holmes). Stu steps into a phone booth on a busy New York street to make a call to Pamela without Kelly being the wiser, but as soon as Stu hangs up, the phone begins to ring. Curious, Stu picks it up -- and a stranger on the other end (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) informs him that if he hangs up the phone, he'll be shot. The red dot of an infrared rifle scope convinces Stu that the caller means business, and when another man tries to make his way into the booth, he's shot mere inches from Stu, calling the attention of the police. Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) naturally assumes that Stu was the killer, as Stu struggles to find a way to convince the police of what's happening before more lives are lost, without leaving the booth and putting his own life on the line. At one time proposed as a vehicle for Jim Carrey, Phone Booth was directed by Joel Schumacher, from a screenplay by exploitation icon Larry Cohen. Mark Deming

San Francisco Chronicle

A movie that combines a seriousness of purpose with an impish delight in craft, in a way Hitchcock would have appreciated. Mick LaSalle

New York Post

Farrell delivers a tour de force in this clever cross between Sweet Smell of Success and Dog Day Afternoon. Lou Lumenick

New York Observer

A first-tier thriller, Phone Booth will make you think twice before you ever enter a public phone facility again, but while it curls your hair, it makes you think. Rex Reed

Product Details

• UPC: 024543414520
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: A
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound
• Language: Français
• Time: 1:21:00
• Sales Rank: 30,923

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Colin Farrell Celebrity Pack
• Thrills & Chills 3-Pack

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