The Stop Button

IMDb doesn't mention it, but I thought one of the problems with getting Phone Booth made (it went through countless potential leading men) was the script and screenwriter Larry Cohen's contract--i.e. no one could be brought in to make it, you know, good.

The film's a piece of crap and it's too bad because some of the acting is amazing. Colin Farrell's great until he says he's from the Bronx, when that image falls apart--Cohen's script, not surprisingly, is set in the seedier 1980s New York, but with some updates for modernity. It's almost exactly like it would have played out if Cohen had made it himself on a hundred thousand back when he was making his own pictures for theatrical release. I don't know how many Larry Cohen movies I've seen, but all of a sudden, I remembered his schlock when watching Phone Booth.

Schumacher doesn't bring anything to the picture except mediocre composition and annoying split screen shots. He knows he's getting a great performance out of Farrell and he lets him run with it. Unfortunately, none of the other principals are any good. They aren't bad, but it's the kind of role Forest Whitaker has been playing since The Color of Money, only without the reveal of the hustle. Radha Mitchell and Katie Holmes have both done much, much better work (it's the atrocious writing).

However, John Enos III gives a spectacular performance in a small role.

At least it runs less than eighty minutes.

CREDITS

Directed by Joel Schumacher; written by Larry Cohen; director of photography, Matthew Libatique; edited by Mark Stevens; music by Harry Gregson-Williams; production designer, Andrew Laws; produced by Gil Netter and David Zucker; released by 20th Century Fox.

Starring Colin Farrell (Stu Shepard), Kiefer Sutherland (the Caller), Forest Whitaker (Captain Ramey), Radha Mitchell (Kelly Shepard), Katie Holmes (Pamela McFadden), Paula Jai Parker (Felicia), John Enos III (Leon) and Ben Foster as the Big Q.

Related posts:

• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999, Jim Jarmusch)
• Q (1982, Larry Cohen)
• The Lost Boys (1987, Joel Schumacher)
• Miami Vice (2006, Michael Mann)
• Batman Forever (1995, Joel Schumacher)