Farrell’s Latest Rings In At No. 1 Its Opening Weekend

Last column, I discussed one of the rising young stars in Hollywood, Oscar winner Adrien Brody, who became the youngest Best Actor winner since Richard Dreyfuss back in 1977. This week, I’ll tackle the latest film from perhaps the most talked-about (or at least, gossiped about) young talent in a while, Irish actor Colin Farrell, whose newest movie, Phone Booth, garnered $15 million its first weekend, which earned it the top spot at the box office. In fact, it’s the third Farrell film in a row (after The Recruit and Daredevil) to open at number one. Not too shabby for a young buck, eh?

Farrell stars as fast-talking publicist Stu Shephard, a slick media consultant with a beautiful wife, Kelly (Radha Mitchell), and a flirtatious relationship with Pam (Katie Holmes), a wannabe actress. Stu’s in the midst of making his daily covert call to Pam when a mysterious caller (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) rings him in the phone booth and utters the chilling statement, “If you hang up, I will kill you.” The rest of this brisk, 80 minute movie plays out on this solitary New York street as Stu matches wits with this faceless antagonist, who chips away at the smooth veneer of the cocky professional and forces him to take a hard look at himself, his ethics and his priorities.

As a film, Phone Booth arrives with its own intriguing back story, which includes the tale that it was allegedly pitched to legendary suspense master Alfred Hitchcock way back in 1972. Writer Larry Cohen claims Hitchcock was keen on the idea of a thriller set within the confines of a phone booth, but he passed away before ever having a chance to take on the project. Fast forward almost 30 years later and noted funnyman Jim Carrey takes a shine to the production and nearly makes it his third attempt (after The Truman Show and Man on the Moon) at a serious role... that is until he backs out at the last moment, leaving the door open for Farrell.

Finally, the film was set to be unveiled in November of last year, but ended up being postponed when its premise was found to be uncomfortably close to the real-life sniper attacks in the Washington, DC area. Put that all together and it makes for some fascinating shop talk, but the real question at hand, especially since this film is directed by Joel “I Single-handedly Killed the Batman Movie Franchise” Schumacher, becomes, Is this movie any good?

Reportedly shot in just ten days, Phone Booth benefits from Schumacher’s cut-to-the-chase approach to what is essentially a two-person melodrama. Sure the picture features peripheral characters, a massive police gathering, a minor subplot involving a sympathetic senior officer (played by Forest Whitaker), and a lively, tense sequence involving a group of strippers who demand to use the phone which Stu dare not give up, but ultimately it’s a morality play between Stu and the caller. For this, Schumacher draws upon his mid-’90s polemic, Falling Down (some especially intriguing parallels to that film cannot be discussed here for fear of giving away too much), but whereas that movie’s subtext dealt with the growing marginalization of the white male in an increasingly pluralistic society, Phone Booth touches on the marginalization of human civility and decency within the context of an increasingly technological age. Now, that said, Phone Booth doesn’t exactly qualify as heavy lifting, but it serves up more than simply an entertaining, well-performed gimmick... one which Hitchcock might have seen as the ultimate MacGuffin.

Phone Booth is rated R for frank language and a few scenes of violence.