Product Details

• Actors: Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell, Katie Holmes
• Directors: Joel Schumacher
• Writers: Larry Cohen
• Producers: David Zucker, Eli Richbourg, Gil Netter, Ted Kurdyla
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Swahili
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 27, 2004
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (308 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000V46OA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,845 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

By some lucky quirk of fate, Phone Booth landed on Hollywood's A-list, but this thriller should've been a straight-to-video potboiler directed by its screenwriter, veteran schlockmeister Larry Cohen, who's riffing on his own 1976 thriller God Told Me To. Instead it's a pointless reunion for fast-rising star Colin Farrell and his Tigerland director, Joel Schumacher, who employs a multiple-image technique similar to TV's 24 to energize Cohen's pulpy plot about an unseen sniper (maliciously voiced by 24's Kiefer Sutherland) who pins his chosen victim (a philandering celebrity publicist played by Farrell) in a Manhattan phone booth, threatening murder if Farrell doesn't confess his sins (including a potential mistress played by Katie Holmes in a thankless role). In a role originally slated for Jim Carrey, Farrell brings vulnerable intensity to his predicament, but Cohen's irresistible premise is too thin for even 81 brisk minutes, which is how long Schumacher takes to reach his morally repugnant conclusion. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Colin Farrell, with an impressive Bronx accent, as a slick P.R. agent trapped on the phone with a sharpshooting psycho. After the audience gets past the nostalgia of seeing a Bell Atlantic phone booth on a New York street (which was filmed mostly in L.A., of course), the punchy eighty-minute script by the low-budget horror master Larry Cohen and the energetic direction of Joel Schumacher make for some entertaining nonsense. Farrell is a joy to watch; he delivers his dialogue with a screwed-up energy that seduces everyone in sight. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very suspenseful!, April 1, 2003

By 

Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

In what seems like the most unlikely premise of all, we are treated to one of the most suspenseful movies so far this year. Not many people could take a film that has 90% of it taking place in a phone booth and still make it good, but Schumaker pulls it off here. Colin Farrell really shines in this movie, and as the suspense mounts toward the film's resolution, you really feel sorry for him. The sense of hopelessness he's feeling becomes your own as you realize there's no easy way out of the situation. The only thing I have against this film is that it could have easily been made into a PG-13 film for a wider audience range with just the loss of profanity. The violence is not as full as Lord of the Rings, but every third word is profanity and that's what earned it the R rating. I understand that you're trying to show Farrell's character's mounting desperation, but it could have been toned down a bit. Still, Keifer Sutherland's calm and even-tempered tone of voice is just psychotic enough to make you cringe when your own phone rings. He's definitely on a roll with his series "24" and now this great movie.

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The art of listening., September 26, 2003

By 

Vlad (russianwriter.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phone Booth (DVD)

Before I watched this film, I read several reviews on it. Most of them was negative. Than I checked out the director: Joel Schumacher. I found few mediocre films by him but at the same time I found few of my favorites: The Lost Boys (1987), Flatliners (1990), Falling Down (1993), The Client (1994). Based on this research I had no choice but to watch this film.
Main character Stu (Colin Farrell at his best performance) is one of this fake New Yorkers: some publicist, dressed in a fake coat of bogus fame and unexciting BIG contacts. He stops by at the phone booth to make his regular call to another women, the one which doesn't know that he is married... As soon as he hangs up? A phone call... A phone call for him... A phone call by a sniper. He has to play by the sniper's rules, or someone will die.
A thriller? An action? A psychological drama? I would say all of it at the same time... but much more. Did I want to know what will happen next? Yes! Did this film make me think? Yes!

From my point of view, this film mostly about art of listening. We often prejudge situations and people. But we forget to listen, to understand and hear the meaning of simple clues which might save our own life. And Forest Whitaker as Captain Ramey did this part very well.
On the other hand it gives us a slight idea how one second can change our life forever. And it does every single day.
The ending made me disappointed but I can't give this film less than A- grade. I've seen better, but not as many as you might think.
Reviewed by "russianwriter.net"

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the best film of 2003, so far..., April 6, 2003

By 

"baronlover" (LADYLAKE, FLORIDA United States) - See all my reviews

...Well, I guess that isn't saying too much. Phone Booth is a suspense genre movie that is actually suspenseful! In only 88 minutes, Phone Booth managed to get me to the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. Colin Farrel really displayed his ability to act. His character may not have been the perfect guy, but he still managed to make the viewer feel for him. With this movie, Kiefer Sutherland also managed to regain the top position as the scariest actor in Hollywood...with his voice alone! Joel Schumacher's directing was great. One might think having the whole movie take place in mostly a phone booth would be boring, but Joel managed to make the movie compelling and visually stimulating. The other actors were also great; although if you're a fan of Katie Holmes, she's in about two minutes of it. I would defintely recommend anyone to see, especially if the person has been hesitant about seeing thrillers due to the blatantly bad ones that have already come out, because Phone Booth delivers.