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Go Ahead, Answer the 'Phone'
Third issue of the fifteen days of movie scripts. So far, we have had some amazing feedback. There was a little controversy surrounding the script review of From Hell. This issue will be addressed in tomorrow's column along with my review of the script to Barry Sonnenfeld's upcoming film, Big Trouble. Today, the infamous Tyler Durden is back. Today he's reviewing Phone Booth. Watch out, if you don't give him the exact change, he'll bite you...
'Phone Booth' Script Review
"It has been a while since I have made any kind of contribution, but Tyler is here with the first of a few script reviews coming to a certain website near you. If you read that first sentence, be relieved in knowing you have found the correct website and keep reading. Here is my take on the script for a completed film... Phone Booth.
The Skinny
As we all know, the phone companies have managed to litter our urban streets with pay phones. The only time it is hard to find one is when you actually need to use one. We see them in restaurants and in bars. Half of them don’t work at all while the other half always manage to steal that last dime you needed to make a 35 cent call with exact change. I have only had the privilege of being in an actual phone booth once while in New York City and it reeked of urine. Of course, the door wasn’t in the best working condition so I almost trapped myself in it. However, what if the phone rang while I was in the booth... and I answered it... and a voice on the other end tells me that if I hang up or try and leave the booth, I will be killed?
That is the basic premise to Phone Booth. Our given hero is Stuart Shepard, a slimy public relations man with a wife and mistress who talks his way into pissing people off. Having a suspicious wife, he is forced to always use the pay phone down the street to arrange meetings with his mistress. He would use his cell phone, but his wife Kelly also looks over all the bills. Well, today is going be different for Stuart. After setting up plans with his mistress Mavis, the pay phone rings again. Like most of us, Stuart answers the phone and is suddenly thrust into a situation where he has zero control. A voice has informed him that if he fails to live up to expectations, he will be shot. Apparently, the voice has been watching him for some time and begins to dial up people he has seen Stuart call and messing things up for him. It is amazing how knowing some simple facts can let you fabricate entire scenarios in someone’s mind.
One, the voice guns down someone who was interfering with his game with Stuart, the police show up and things get complicated. The police want him out of the booth and the voice won’t let him leave. Kelly has shown up at the scene and the voice is also threatening to kill her. So Stuart now must complete a deadly game of cat and mouse against the voice and the police within the confines of a phone booth. Will Stuart survive? Will the voice gun him down or will the police? Will the phone companies ever lower the price of a call back down to 25 cents?
The Script
The script is very fast-paced and dialogue intensive. The entire movie takes place on the corner of 8th and 45th in Manhattan with the focus being on Stuart. The entire movie with the exception of a few scenes is shot from Stuart’s point of view. The only time we break from that is to see what the voice is seeing through his rifle’s scope. The script plays with mental ideas of fear and paranoia very well, especially because we never see the voice. In fact, we do not know if the voice is male or female. We get no frame of reference beyond a voice which may not even be real... it could be modified with some gadget a la Scream.
The script was written by Larry Cohen and is quite good. Because it is very dialogue intensive it read very fast. There are two problems that gnawed at me when I was finished. Both of them revolve around the ending which seemed thrown together. The first is the reaction of the police in dealing with Stuart, who fails to comply with their demands at all. They were just too quick to figure things out given that he really doesn’t give them any information at first. His second conversation with a 911 operator on his cell phone provides that link... but there is no rationale for why the police don’t react before that given that they have witnesses screaming that Stuart is armed and killed someone. The second problem is more of a problem for the audience. They will never know who the killer is or get the slightest hint of what motivated him. A lack of resolution could leave some walking out of the movie telling all their friends it is a stupid film. A movie like The Usual Suspects pulled a similar trick, but we get resolution and understanding at the end. To me, not knowing didn’t matter. After all, I really don’t like Stuart and almost wished he would have gotten shot and killed. He is a liar, cheats on his wife and hustles people so there is not much to like and not much room to feel sorry for him. Overall though, I really liked the basic ideas for this film and some of the dialogue carries a hint of dark humor that appealed to me.
Current Affairs
This movie has finished shooting with Joel Schumacher at the helm. Colin Farrell was handed the lead role of Stuart. These two things scare me because this movie has so much to offer an audience. It is a true thriller that doesn’t depend on crazy plot twists always throwing the lead characters and the audience for a loop. There is just a guy stuck in a phone booth trying to save his own ass from getting killed by some sniper in a nearby building or the cops down the street. I can guarantee you that Schumacher and Farrell will screw this movie up and that is too bad for Larry Cohen. Look at what he has done to the Batman series not to mention the crap films 8mm and Flawless. The fact that our only contact with the bad guy besides his voice is to look through his rifle’s scope is just brilliant. The second Schumacher caves to show the antagonist will ruin what makes this movie great. I would also expect the ending to be tinkered with as well to please more conventional audiences. It is too bad Philip Seymour Hoffman couldn’t take this film as hoped because it could have gotten him over the hump to win that golden statue. It is probably too soon in Colin Farrell’s career to carry this film. Since the entire film is him in the phone booth, the audience needs someone they can identity with. And since 98 out of 100 people have never heard of him, where is the motivation to go see this film? There is none... even for me... and I know the script is great. That is not a good sign.
That is my take folks. A very interesting and well written script with a few flaws that I am really more than willing to overlook. However, the decision by the studio in terms of director and lead will not help this film. It isn’t too late 20th Century Fox... there is still time to cast Deadpool (the police chief), Hollyfeld (poor Stuart Smalley... I mean Shepard) and I (the voice) in this film. Just give us a decent director and we can make it a Sundance winner at the very least."
(Review by Tyler Durden)
You Game?
Last year, I created a private group at Yahoo's Oscars Pick'em game. The challenge was really amazing and it was also extremely fun. We're doing it again this time around. In order to join the group, just go to http://moviegames.yahoo.com/oscars, create a pick set and choose "Join a Private Group." Then, when prompted, enter the following information...
Group ID#: 4555
Password: tnmc
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
