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Phone
Booth
(Fox Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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July
8, 2003
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Length:
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81 mins.
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| Rated:
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R
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1), Full Screen (1.33:1)
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby
Digital 5.1
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| Subtitles:
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English, Spanish Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Audio
Commentary with Director Joel Schumacher, Trailers
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Phone Booth is a short, sweet movie. A
very basic movie. New York City publicist, Stu Shepard (Colin
Farrell), is a prick - he's a loudmouth, he treats people like shit,
he's a phony, he lies and he tries to cheat on his wife. One day he is
walking by a phone booth, the phone rings, he answers it and is told
if he hangs up the phone he will be shot. The crazy voice on the other
end of the phone (Kiefer Sutherland) has been staking out the phone
booth and has decided that Stu Shepard will be the victim of his
terror for the above listed reasons - loudmouth, prick, phony, liar
and cheater. When I reviewed this movie a few months ago, I said I
didn't think the sniper had a good enough reason to terrorize Stu Shepard.
I thought there were much worse people in the world who should be
shot. Shepard never even really cheated. He only thought about
cheating. And I really didn't find him to be that much of a prick.
Sutherland's character was the real prick of the movie, not Shepard.
Nevertheless, I was still interested in watching Phone Booth again. I
am a fan of Colin Farrell and I thought the idea of the movie (and the
shortness) were worth another viewing. When I saw Phone Booth the
first time, it was at a screening at the Toronto International Film
Festival, so what I saw at that time might not have been the finished
product. Well, the second time around, I have to admit, I liked the
movie slightly more. I still had a problem with the whole reason Stu
Shepard was trapped in a phone booth with a sniper's rifle pointed at
his brain, but I did like Colin Farrell's performance even more the
second time around. If there is any reason to watch this movie, he is
it. His Brooklyn accent wavered at different times of the movie with
that of his real Irish accent, but he brought so much emotion to the
role that it was fun to watch.
As for the extras, the DVD includes both full screen and widescreen
versions, the original theatrical trailer, a trailer to the movie
Garage Days and a full-length commentary by director Joel Schumacher.
Schumacher talks about various aspects of the movie, like how rushed
the whole production was (apparently filmed in 10 days), how cold it
was in New York and L.A. where the movie was filmed, what great people
all the actors are, especially Colin Farrell and Forest Whitaker. He
mentions how he, himself, spent much of the 60's with a needle in his
arm. He cracks himself up a few times with his own jokes. He mentions
how this film is filled with terror, a feeling I really did not feel
while watching. He talks about how test audiences liked the fact that
the situation Stu Shepard was in was so scary because it was so real,
once again, something I did not get from the movie. He more or less
says if you don't like the movie, you can fuck yourself, which I found
pretty funny. Actually, he says if you don't like the ending you can
fuck yourself, but same difference.
Nevertheless, I would recommend taking a quick gander at Phone Booth.
It is a short, sweet movie and is relatively entertaining. The DVD
looks good, sounds good, the extras are sparse (I really would have
liked Colin Farrell to have a few beers and comment on the movie -
that would have been great!), but it is still good entertainment.
| The Movie: |
  |
7/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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4/10 |
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did you think?
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Phone Booth
Brendan Cullin - Senior
Editor
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