Phone Booth Starring Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker Directed by Joel Schumacher Rated R for pervasive language and some violence **3/4 out of **** Stars, Movie Grade: B

Theatrical Release: April 4, 2003
Running time: 81 minutes

by Kevin Lang

"Phone Booth" was originally supposed to be released last year, but it was held up due to its storyline's similarity to the D.C. area sniper shootings. Joel Schumacher, who previously extracted perhaps Colin Farrell's best performance to date in 2000's "Tigerland," was back behind the camera to exude an equally strong performance from Farrell. This time Schumacher directed Farrell as Stu Shepard, a morally corrupt publicist who found himself trapped in a New York City phone booth, the target of a sniper's rifle.

With strong performances from both Farrell and his costars, including Forrest Whitaker, who played the police captain attempting to coax Farrell from the phone booth, the film, with it's original storyline and often heightened suspense, failed to offer enough closure to a fairly well executed plot. We never learned why the sniper, played by Kiefer Sutherland, did what he did. Why did he want to exterminate moral wrongdoers? Who was he? Obviously, he was a murderer and thus a wrongdoer himself.

Despite leaving a few loose ends, "Phone Booth" unfolded with a strong sense of realism. The story played out in what seemed to be real time, and with a plot that spanned only the running time of the film, Schumacher still managed to create a story that held my attention until the end. It was the end, however, that left me feeling a little shortchanged.

Some who see this film might like the unconventional ending, which seemed to hardly exist at all. I saw the climax of this film as a plateau that would lead to even more excitement with more scenes of suspense. Instead, the movie ended, and I was left wondering what the sniper's motive was. It was interesting to see Stu's moral awakening unfold, but the Sniper's motive for causing it to happen was never explained.

In the end, "Phone Booth" could have easily been a three star movie. The filmmakers just needed about ten minutes more film to complete what they started.

"Phone Booth" Review written April 3, 2003, CTF.

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