Film
Michael Atkinson
Tuesday, September 7th 2004
Most Popular
-
Scientology's Crushing Defeat A previously unpublished saga of an $8 million check
-
Heath Ledger Peers Into The Abyss in The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan's Batman returns, delivers the kick-ass goods
-
The Harrowing Adventures of President Obama Looking back on his first term
-
Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis
-
A Teen Private-In-Training Is Crushed to Death . . . and his father fights for answers
Cellular was written by a neophyte script polisher, and directed by a second-unit pro whose main fame claim is having helmed Final Destination 2, but the whole buoyant, pleasantly pulpy, invigorating doodle has Larry Cohen's pawprints all over it. (He receives only a "story by" credit.) The scenario is Cohen-ultra, akin to Phone Booth and an inverse-double-flip of Sorry, Wrong Number: Classy Santa Monica mom Kim Basinger is kidnapped God knows why, and manages to get a broken phone to work—calling, haphazardly, the cell phone of an irresponsible beach stud (Chris Evans), who must then drive like a bat out of hell through L.A. to save her family and intervene in the bad guys' every maneuver. Dead spots, dying batteries, crossed lines—every cell phone tech burp is a set piece. As light on its feet as any B-movie this featherweight, Cellular belongs to Evans, who looks like a Tiger Beat demigod but jumps the hoops with infectious aplomb. Basinger takes her shuddery Stanwyckness very seriously, but everyone else has a ball.
Recent Articles
More by Michael Atkinson
Site Search «
Village Voice Insiders
- Weekly villagevoice.com
- Weekly freebies and Special Offers
- Daily "What To Do in NYC" E-mail
- Information on the Performing Arts
- New York Bites - Restaurants Newsletter
| buy, sell, trade 4,130 | musician 2,816 |
| rentals 18,708 | jobs 5,707 |
| adult entertainment 9,594 | |
| classifieds | backpage.com | Post ads for free! | |
|---|---|
