Cellular Makes the Most of Its Minutes
New Thriller Recalls Success of Phone Booth

One of the best thrillers of 2003 was the simple, unpretentious flick Phone Booth. It started fast, kept the suspense level high, and didn’t bother the audience with too much character development or background story. Best of all, it got in and out of the story and furious clip—hitting the finish line right at 90 minutes.

Kim Basinger stars as a kidnapped woman who has one chance to call the outside world in Cellular.

Phone Booth screenwriter Larry Cohen returns to the thriller game this summer with the taught, Los Angeles-set kidnapping story Cellular. The story takes advantage of Americans’ current obsession with mobile phones and all their new little bells and whistles.

Cellular is directed by David Ellis and stars Kim Basinger as upper crust Brentwood wife and working mom Jessica Martin. One morning after her son leaves for school, a virtual SWAT team of thugs breaks into her house, kills her maid, and abducts her. She is taken to a secret location where she is locked in the attic. Jessica manages to “MacGyver” an old busted phone in the attic and calls a random number for help.

On the other end of the line is irresponsible Santa Monica beach dude Ryan (Chris Evans) who at first thinks the call is a joke but is soon attempting to help Jessica. Unable to hang up for fear of losing the connection, Ryan goes to incredible lengths to find Jessica and save her family.

The plot of Cellular is fairly implausible but is pulled off with such style and wit and intricate pacing that the audience is hooked from the get-go. The ending is a little sloppy and unworthy of the ride that gets you there, but the screenwriters make the right decision to wrap things up in a hurry rather than drag them out with epilogues.

Basinger does not appear in nearly as many movies as she did in her glamour queen days, but she picks her current projects wisely (8 Mile, LA Confidential). Newcomer Evans bounces back nicely from his disastrous outing in The Perfect Score to embody the likeable yet unlikely hero in Cellular. He will star in next year’s superhero epic The Fantastic Four.

Rounding out the cast is the ever-superb William H. Macy as soon-to-retire Officer Moony, a cop whose recurring line, “It’s a day spa!” gives Cellular both levity and reality.

At the end of the day, Cellular is not going to win any awards or change the way we look at thrillers, or mobile phones for that matter. It is however, a nifty 90-minute ride that is well crafted with characters that are both believable and likeable.

Cellular is rated PG-13 for violence, terror situations, language and some sexual references. It is currently playing at Regal Cinemas in Boone.

WNC Film Being Cast

Outer Dark, a Cormac McCarthy novel, is set to be filmed in western North Carolina this fall and upcoming spring. The producers of the film are currently accepting resu mes and headshots for actors of all types and experience levels.

Resumes for crew positions are also being considered.

Resume materials may be sent to: Attn: Outer Dark, 14 Reynolds Rd., Asheville, NC, 28806.

Further inquiries may be addressed to phiphenom@msn.com or by calling (513) 675-0711.

Sacred Cows on Film

Two weeks ago this space contained a review of the Chinese film Hero. Basically I stated that the movie was the most visually stunning thing I had seen in years but the lack of emotional range in the acting left me somewhat disengaged.

A couple of loyal readers have attempted to convince me that Hero is the best thing since the invention of the second chopstick and that I just didn’t “get it.” Maybe they are right. Or perhaps people just don’t want to hear any criticism, however slight, of certain cinematic sacred cows. In this case the sacred cow is the foreign, big budget martial arts movie, a style first introduced to American audiences a couple of years ago with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Some of the other sacred cows that I’ve encountered when talking to film fans include James Bond films, Star Wars films, and anything with Quentin Tarrantino’s name attached to it. And what’s the deal with Citizen Kane? Is it still worthy of its place on top of the all-time best films list?

Do you have a cinematic sacred cow you’d like to take down a peg or two? Send your responses to movieguy@mountaintimes.com and we’ll try to find some space in this column to give the overrated their due.