o my eyes deceive me, or is Joel Schumacher on a bit of a winning streak? Against all odds, the uberhack director of such notable cinematic abortions as Dying Young and Batman & Robin has now made two quality films in a row. First was 2000’s Tigerland, one of the fresher Vietnam War movies to emerge from what has become a thoroughly played-out genre. He has now followed up with Phone Booth, an above average thriller that actually delivers its fair share of thrills. A couple more of these, and the former interior decorator (seriously) turned filmmaker might actually develop into a major cinematic artist.


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Nah, I’m just fucking with you. Schumacher will probably return to churning out godawful Hollywood dross as soon as he gets over this brief midlife crisis, or whatever it is that has suddenly compelled him to start directing movies with a pulse. In the meantime, let’s just treasure this moment, for it is sure to be brief. The key to Schumacher’s recent success is his commitment to directing what are essentially mainstream movies as if they were independent films. Tigerland, although not blessed with a startlingly original script, derived a real spark from Schumacher’s decision to use relatively low production values, lots of handheld cameras, and a cast of unknown actors. Similarly, Schumacher directs Phone Booth as if it were a particularly experimental Hitchcock film (indeed, an early version of the script was actually pitched to Hitchcock back in the early 70s). The result is a mainstream thriller that does not insult the intelligence of the audience and relies on character and pacing to deliver a good dose of real suspense.


The plot of Phone Booth is the very definition of High Concept. Oily New York publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) cruises around Manhattan, barking on his cell phone to his pathetically low-rent clients while his eager young assistant hangs on his every word. Every week, Stu takes a few minutes to make a call from “the last phone booth in Manhattan,” trying to coax a beautiful actress client (Katie Holmes) into bed with him (the reason the married Stu uses the booth is that his wife checks his cell phone bill). But today is not Stu’s lucky day. As soon as he gets off the phone, it rings, Stu picks it up, and a voice on the other end of the line informs him that a sniper rifle is being trained on him and will be used to blow him into the next world if he hangs up or fails to follow the voice’s instructions.


The rest of the movie takes place in and around the phone booth. The man on the other end of the line (Kiefer Sutherland) wants Stu to learn his lesson—namely, stop lying to everyone he comes across, especially his wife. To prove that he means business, the Voice shoots a pimp who has been bothering Stu in the booth. Naturally, the cops arrive, thinking Stu is the shooter, media types show up, and over the next hour or so Stu must figure out how to outwit his unseen tormentor before he gets a bullet in the chest.


And there’s your movie. Only 80 minutes long, one of Phone Booth’s chief virtues is its unwillingness to stretch itself beyond its natural limits. There are no useless subplots and only a few essential supporting characters. Schumacher and screenwriter Larry Cohen understand that the core of the film is the cat-and-mouse head game played between Stu and the sniper, and they do not deviate from that central story. Stu stays trapped in his booth until the very end, as we see him dissolve into a frightened, sweaty mess of a man desperate to extricate himself from a nightmarish situation. Thus the film is entirely dependent on Colin Farrell’s ability to sell his character arc, and Farrell pulls it off. It was Schumacher who first discovered Farrell and gave him the lead role in Tigerland, so the two clearly have an affinity for working with one another. If Farrell plays his cards right and stops signing onto movies like American Outlaws, this performance should be the star turn that launches him into the Hollywood stratosphere.


The one weakness of Phone Booth, and it’s not a major one, is the ending. Although not terrible, it’s a little too nifty for its own good. Meant to give the audience a good shiver as it leaves the theater, it instead merits more of an eye-roll. But in the context of the rest of the movie, I’ll take it. Phone Booth succeeds at being both an enjoyable suspense thriller and an old-fashioned morality play, as Stu Shepard is forced to come to grips with his life choices. When the 80 minutes ends and the credits go up, you might be surprised at how much you enjoyed this movie.


As for Mr. Schumacher, well, hats off to him. I suppose the years he’s spent directing high budget crap have at least given him a good technical sense of filmmaking, which he puts to good use in Phone Booth. Any praise he receives for his last two movies is well-earned. I figure it will last roughly until he makes his next brain-numbing superhero movie or treacly sentimental tearjerker. Fifty bucks says he does just that within the next two years. Any takers? I thought not.