Phone Booth (2002) Review

Phone Booth (2002)

Phone Booth follows Stu Shepard, a smarmy publicist who finds himself trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by a sniper dead set on making him pay for his transgressions. 

As gimmicky as Phone Booth presents itself, you’d be easily mistaken for believing this to be a Wes Craven film, particularly on the heels of Scream 3 which had just wrapped its series 2 years prior. Alas however, it was Joel Schumacher who took on the unenviably ambitious task of setting an entire movie inside a phone booth, with a then relatively unknown Colin Farrell. For such a simple yet complex film that relies on staying completely static, there’s a level of thought that needs to be invested in making sure the viewer stays invested, as a weak script, feeble antagonist, or shaky lead could derail the entire movie.

Surprisingly though, Schumacher relatively pulls it off, delivering a pretty engaging thriller that smartly introduces us to Stu, and all of his snarky, unlikable qualities, only to traumatize him into being a more vulnerable, forgiving protagonist who you want to root for, despite how we met him. On the flip side, we have the caller, imparting a devastating clarity upon Stu that genuinely seeds doubt in him making it out alive, though the immersion is broken a bit with his voice sounding front and center, as opposed to running it through a phone filter. 

We get a pretty average cast too, starring Paula Jai Parker, Katie Holmes, Richard T. Jones, Radha Mitchell, Forest Whitaker, Kiefer Sutherland, and Colin Farrell. Sutherland, while merely a voice behind a phone, creates such a terrifying atmosphere that really forces Farrell to do some interesting things with Stu, creating one character only to break him down into something lesser and more vulnerable. 

While Phone Booth, directed by Joel Schumacher, comes off as a tad gimmicky, with a less than satisfying conclusion, there’s an undeniable tension in seeing Colin Farrell mentally snap under the threat of death, in this claustrophobic thriller. 

7.3/10