Phone Booth - Region 2 DVD

Colin Farrell plays slick and obnoxious PR man Stu Shepard who picks up a ringing payphone only to be informed by a mysterious sniper (Keifer Sutherland) that there's a gun pointed directly at him. What Stu initially believes to be a joke turns about to be a vendetta from the sniper who objects to married Stu's philandering ways, and it soon escalates into a prime-time TV siege.

Joel Schumacher's energetic direction--employing some snappy editing and nifty split-screen techniques--helps distract from an uneven and often predictable plot. It's easy for the audience to think of a dozen ways this siege could be averted, but by upping the tension stakes Schumacher still makes it fun to watch.

Colin Farrell gives a compelling central performance, which runs the emotional gamut from anger to fear to anguish and even carries off a cheesy absolution scene. Keifer Sutherland's husky baddie voiceover is not exactly the stuff of nightmares but, like the rest of the film, you could do a lot worse. As a pure popcorn thriller, Phone Booth hits all the right buttons. --Laura Bushell