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Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell, Katie Holmes ... see more see more... , Richard T. Jones , John Enos III , James MacDonald , Josh Pais , Paula Jai Parker , Tia Texada , Troy M. Gilbert , Colin Patrick Lynch , Julio Oscar Mechoso , Bruce Roberts , Mary Jo Randle , Domenick Lombardozzi , Mia Cottet , Yorgo Constantine , Arian Waring Ash , Svetlana Efremova , Seth William Meier , Tory Kittles , Dell Yount , Keith Nobbs , Karara Muhoro , Dean Cochran , Maile Flanagan , Richard Paradise , Billy Erb , Zidu Chen , Tuan Shu Lan , Amy Kowallis , Tyree Simpson , Dean Tarrolly , Paul Fontana , Tom Reynolds , Ben Foster

One man's life is thrown into turmoil by picking up a telephone in this claustrophobic thriller. Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a brash, cynical, and self-centered public relations man who juggles a b... read more read more...usy career with both a wife, Kelly (Radha Mitchell), and a mistress, Pamela (Katie Holmes). Stu steps into a phone booth on a busy New York street to make a call to Pamela without Kelly being the wiser, but as soon as Stu hangs up, the phone begins to ring. Curious, Stu picks it up -- and a stranger on the other end (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) informs him that if he hangs up the phone, he'll be shot. The red dot of an infrared rifle scope convinces Stu that the caller means business, and when another man tries to make his way into the booth, he's shot mere inches from Stu, calling the attention of the police. Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) naturally assumes that Stu was the killer, as Stu struggles to find a way to convince the police of what's happening before more lives are lost, without leaving the booth and putting his own life on the line. At one time proposed as a vehicle for Jim Carrey, Phone Booth was directed by Joel Schumacher, from a screenplay by exploitation icon Larry Cohen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

63% liked it

385,583 ratings

Critics

71% liked it

185 critics

R, 1 hr. 20 min.

Directed by: Joel Schumacher

Release Date: April 4, 2003

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DVD Release Date: July 8, 2003

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Stats: 17,446 reviews

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Colin Farrell Colin Farrell He was born on December 21st, 1966 in London, England, UK to parents Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas. Phonebooth Phone Booth Phone Booth Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth Phone Booth Phone Booth Phone Booth Starring:Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth Colin Farrell (as Stu Shepard) and Ben Foster (as Big Q) in 'Phone Booth' Phone Booth Phone Booth Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth Forest Whitaker , Colin Farrell , Kiefer Sutherland , Radha Mitchell , Katie Holmes in Phone Booth
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Flixster Reviews (17,446)

  • aquateen2
    March 31, 2012
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]

    I never dreamt until I saw Phone Booth that I could sit and watch a movie where a guy has a telephone conversation that almost never ends for over an hour. This movie is intense, thrilling and has a phen... read moreomenally energetic Colin Farrel. What more does a thriller need?
  • fb100001592288964
    March 17, 2012
    fb100001592288964
    Pure definition of underrated! A thrilling pressure cooker showcasing one of Colin Farrell's best performances, and is also the only Joel Schumacher film I've liked, too.
  • fb619846742
    February 4, 2012
    fb619846742
    An entertaining fast-paced thriller concerning a slimy publicist (Colin Farrell) who gets caught in a phone booth and is forced to stay on the line with a crazed voice on the other end of the line (Kiefer Sutherland) who has threatened to kill his loved ones if he does not do exa... read morectly what he says. Without a convincing performance from its star, this movie would fall on its face. Luckily, Colin Farrell is a tremendous actor, and his powerful, gripping turn gives this movie a reason to exist. Sutherland's voice is downright terrifying, and you know he means business even if you never see him. Director Joel Schumacher paces this film to perfection, while also capturing a claustrophobic setting that perfectly complements the crowded environment he is trying to portray in New York City. The motive of the villain is not given the attention it deserves, one of the films drawbacks, but this remains a mostly adrenaline rush of a movie which, like the villain, keeps your attention throughout.
  • fb1038944442
    December 16, 2011
    fb1038944442
    Phone Booth is an wonderfully absurd and enertaining thiller that makes no sense, but is unrelentingly funny and packed with weird twist and turns. Joel Shumacher is much stronger when he's absurd and random, and he is here. Coin Farrell is a hapless jerk, who's held hostage in ... read morea phone booth by a sniper (Keifer Sutherland's voice). That's all the plot you need to know.

    Watch it for the terrific Colin Farrell as a brash and amoral PR hustler, Forrest Wittacker as a warm and not as wise as he thinks cop, and Keifer Sutherland as a Jack Bauer gone wrong. He's all voice over the phone until... well I won't ruin it.

    Despite Phone Booth's minor B film vibe and low aspirations, it's a textbook on how to make a caffeine infused thriller with one static location - a phone booth. Once you insert the DVD in your player, you'll probably watch the whole thing, just to find out what happens, even if you think it stank. Which it sort of does, but turn your brain off and enjoy.
  • fb729949618
    October 31, 2011
    fb729949618
    Very thrilling and suspenseful. Pretty short film, so it gets right into the action from the get go.
  • theoneandonlybg
    October 17, 2011
    theoneandonlybg
    Similarly to my review of Buried, this film is about a man in a confined space; but rather than being in a box, he is in a phone booth.

    Stuart Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a PR rep, who was making a normal phone call on a phone booth. But just as he is about to leave the booth h... read moree hears the phone ring, picks it up, and soon realises that if he hangs up, he will die; because there is a man hidden in an unknown place with a sniper, aiming at Shepard, forcing him to do everything that he wants him to, or else he gets shot.

    This idea of being trapped not only physically, but mentally, and being forced to say things that would offend others or harm others to try and save his own life. What happens in the film is not only tense and interesting, but has a very sinister man there to back it all up and scare anyone away from a phone booth. Sort of!

    With very few sets, an awful lot of acting and action manages to occur during the duration of the film, and with such an interesting, slightly remeniscent of Saw (NOT the ending of Saw) ending, this film is one of my favourites and will be for years to come.
  • djdemersseman
    August 14, 2011
    djdemersseman
    If Farell did more movoies like this, he wouldn't suck.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    May 20, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    After the dreadful Batman & Robin, I had serious doubts that Joel Schumacher could pull together and craft a film that was good. Well to his credit, he did with Phone Booth. Schumacher is the type of director that can make a good film followed by a few bad ones, and then make a g... read moreood film. For me, Phone Booth is his best film along with The Lost Boys and his first Batman effort, Batman Forever, which I thought wasn't too bad, infact it was good but not great. But then came Batman & Robin, a travesty of a film. Luckily Schumacher has redeemed himself slightly with Phone Booth. The concept of this film is brilliant. Phone Booth is proof that such a simple idea can make a very good film. A selfish man is held hostage in a phone booth. That basically sums up the story. The Sniper makes him divulge personal, embarrassing matters that Stu (played by Colin Farrell) does not want people
    to know. The film is brilliantly paced and is always tense. Joel Schumacher does a good job at directing, considering his checkered filmography. Kiefer Sutherland plays the role of the sniper, and aside from him talking during the whole film, we see him only briefly near the end. Phone Booth is a surprising thriller from Joel Schumacher and this is on the very short list of his best films. A tense ride from start to finish.
  • StarCrossedVoyager
    February 25, 2011
    StarCrossedVoyager
    Katie Holmes' voice is irritating and unnatural. The first half was terrible, boring, obvious and just unwatchable and it did get better towards the end. I loved the callers voice. Stuart deserved that but it was obvious that he'd stay alive. It just didn't grasp me. I didn't car... read moree about any of the characters.
  • CreedsDelight
    January 22, 2011
    CreedsDelight
    So simple yet so suspenseful! I loved it!

    Grade: B+

View All Phone Booth Reviews

Critic Reviews

Andrew Sarris
May 16, 2003
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

Raises more questions than it answers as it attempts to convince us that a moralistic sniper would torture a sleazy publicist into tears of guilt and remorse over what amounts to a few paltry, venial ... Full Review

David Edelstein
April 22, 2003
David Edelstein, Slate

The premise is admittedly a killer -- fun to think about, fun to see realized, not so fun to see screwed up in the last half-hour. Full Review

Jack Mathews
April 22, 2003
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

If this sounds like a Kafkaesque spoof thrown together for the annual Publicists Guild of America luncheon, Larry Cohen's script is only occasionally that clever. Full Review

Rex Reed
April 15, 2003
Rex Reed, New York Observer

A first-tier thriller, Phone Booth will make you think twice before you ever enter a public phone facility again, but while it curls your hair, it makes you think. Full Review

Richard Roeper
April 7, 2003
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

[A] taut thriller that hooked me from the outset. Full Review

Mike Clark
April 4, 2003
Mike Clark, USA Today

A superficially gritty yet soullessly slick melodrama. Full Review

Peter Howell
April 4, 2003
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Anyone inclined to argue with the logic of the story -- and there's certainly much to argue about -- is advised to just sit back and watch how Farrell's Stu unravels before our eyes. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
April 4, 2003
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

A movie that combines a seriousness of purpose with an impish delight in craft, in a way Hitchcock would have appreciated. Full Review

Joe Baltake
April 4, 2003
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Its plot ... not only fully exploits Schumacher's strengths as a filmmaker but also has encouraged the director to keep things atypically simple. Full Review

John Anderson
April 4, 2003
John Anderson, Newsday

Nothing about Stu, in the end, is really important enough to justify the Sturm und Drang of Phone Booth or its tempest in a telecommunications teapot. Full Review

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Facts

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    • The Caller: Isn't it funny? You hear a phone ring and it could be anybody. But ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it?
  • Mel Gibson was set to star, but backed out.
  • Will Smith was originally attached to star.
Submit a Fact | View All

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Phone Booth Trivia

  • which actor played the caller in Phone Booth  Answer »
  • A guy recieves a phone call and a wierd voice tells him: "If you hang up you die"  Answer »
  • "Come on, Stu. Don't you get the game yet?" "No gun, no first name. You're a highly underprivileged individual, sir." "no, i'm gonna confess i shot him with my ****** phone!" "You get to choose between them. Kelly. Pam." Are quotes from which film?  Answer »
  • who played stew in phone booth  Answer »
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