Phone Booth (2002)
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A man trapped in a phone booth must face the consequences of his lies when a mysterious caller threatens his life.
The story
Stuart Shepard, an arrogant and dishonest New York City publicist, uses a public phone booth in Times Square to contact a woman he is having an affair with. Immediately after hanging up, the phone rings again. A mysterious man on the other end, who knows Stuart's name, warns him not to leave the booth. The caller reveals he has tested others who refused to confess their secrets and has killed them. To ensure his safety, Stuart must confess his lies to his wife and his mistress, all while under the constant threat of a sniper's bullet.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Stuart Shepard, a dishonest publicist, is trapped in a phone booth in Times Square after a mysterious caller threatens to kill him unless he confesses his infidelity to his wife, Kelly, and his mistress, Pam. The caller demonstrates his power by shooting a nearby pizza delivery man. As the situation escalates, three women and a pimp, Leon, approach the booth; the caller shoots Leon when Stuart inadvertently asks him to make him stop. Police arrive and cordoned off the area, but Stuart refuses to leave. The caller eventually forces Stuart to choose between his wife and his mistress, and the woman not chosen will be shot. Stuart manages to get his wife on the phone to hear the caller's demands. While the police attempt to trace the call, Stuart eventually grabs a handgun and leaves the booth, hoping the sniper will kill him. He is struck by non-lethal rubber bullets and survives. He reconciles with his wife, while the real caller is seen walking away into a crowd as the phone rings again.
- First release year
- 2002
- Runtime (minutes)
- 81
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Joel Schumacher
- Writers
- Larry Cohen · writer
- Cast and characters
- Colin Farrell · Stuart "Stu" Shepard; Kiefer Sutherland · The Caller; Forest Whitaker · Capt. Ed Ramey; Katie Holmes · Pamela "Pam" McFadden; Radha Mitchell · Kelly Shepard; Paula Jai Parker · Felicia; Tia Texada · Asia; John Enos III · Leon
- Genres
- psychological thriller; neo-noir
- Themes
- atonement; consequences of dishonesty
- Tone and mood
- tense; suspenseful
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success relative to its budget.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 56 · scale: 100 · review count: 36
- Production trivia
- The script was inspired by an idea pitched to Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s.; The film was shot in front of a building in Los Angeles, despite being set in New York City.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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