Back in the days before TV movies became almost exclusively beholden to true-life sagas, they used to cover all manner of subjects, including good old-fashioned thrillers. Though made for the big screen, "Cellular" is something in that line - less interested in the Issues and more interested in hooking viewers for about an hour and a half. But unlike story-provider Larry Cohen's sort of companion piece "Phone Booth," it's not quite as riveting.
It's not the basic situation of Kim Basinger's life depending on her staying in touch with innocent bystander-listener Chris Evans (not that one); it's how it plays out. Whereas one of the strengths of "Phone Booth" was that it played out almost entirely in one location, here Evans - and thus the movie - roams all over the place, and it loses some of the white-knuckle tension as a result. Chris Morgan's screenplay also could have done with less absurd roadblocks to get in the way of the suspense rather than enhance it (how convenient is it that a riot should break out in the police station our hero goes to?) and a few less references to the Big Book Of Screen writing Clichés (ever noticed that movie cops on the verge of retirement always have to have something come up on the day they leave the force?). And as for having a character in a New Line movie carry a "Lord of the Rings" backpack...
For some time now UK moviegoers have had to put up with a series of cinema ads for Orange mobile phones, in which a variety of actors (Roy Scheider, Carrie Fisher, Alan Cumming, Patrick Swayze, Sean Astin, Spike Lee etc) pitch movies to the "Orange Film Funding Board," and invariably get told the movie has to have phones at the core of its plot. It's been suggested on one of the forums I visit that "Cellular" is the kind of movie the Board would make if it was real, but it's not quite as imbecilic - it holds the attention and benefits from its cast (Basinger, Evans, Jason Statham, and especially William H. Macy as the cop about to open a day spa), John Ottman's score, and an intentional sense of humour. But the only advantage this has over "Phone Booth" is that Jessica Biel is a lot sexier than Katie Holmes - and even there, the former Joey Potter gets more screen time and is more essential to the plot than the former Mary Camden. So...
Oh damn, I've run out of minutes.
It's not the basic situation of Kim Basinger's life depending on her staying in touch with innocent bystander-listener Chris Evans (not that one); it's how it plays out. Whereas one of the strengths of "Phone Booth" was that it played out almost entirely in one location, here Evans - and thus the movie - roams all over the place, and it loses some of the white-knuckle tension as a result. Chris Morgan's screenplay also could have done with less absurd roadblocks to get in the way of the suspense rather than enhance it (how convenient is it that a riot should break out in the police station our hero goes to?) and a few less references to the Big Book Of Screen writing Clichés (ever noticed that movie cops on the verge of retirement always have to have something come up on the day they leave the force?). And as for having a character in a New Line movie carry a "Lord of the Rings" backpack...
For some time now UK moviegoers have had to put up with a series of cinema ads for Orange mobile phones, in which a variety of actors (Roy Scheider, Carrie Fisher, Alan Cumming, Patrick Swayze, Sean Astin, Spike Lee etc) pitch movies to the "Orange Film Funding Board," and invariably get told the movie has to have phones at the core of its plot. It's been suggested on one of the forums I visit that "Cellular" is the kind of movie the Board would make if it was real, but it's not quite as imbecilic - it holds the attention and benefits from its cast (Basinger, Evans, Jason Statham, and especially William H. Macy as the cop about to open a day spa), John Ottman's score, and an intentional sense of humour. But the only advantage this has over "Phone Booth" is that Jessica Biel is a lot sexier than Katie Holmes - and even there, the former Joey Potter gets more screen time and is more essential to the plot than the former Mary Camden. So...
Oh damn, I've run out of minutes.