Nicht auflegen! (2002)

Nicht auflegen!: Directed by Joel Schumacher. With Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell. Publicist Stuart Shepard finds himself trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by an extortionist’s sniper rifle. Unable to leave or receive outside help, Stuart’s negotiation with the caller leads to a jaw-dropping climax.

“Director Joel Schumacher preserves his reputation with a script by Larry Cohen about personal morals and hopefully the truth providing some kind of redemption. This is a white knuckle nerve wrecker about a self-serving publicist(Colin Farrell)making the mistake of his life by answering a public telephone. On the other end of the phone is a self empowered mad man(Kiefer Sutherland) inflicting demands on the fast talking, fast thinking publicity dealer who just happened to be walking by the phone booth he passes every day. The mystery voice on the phone demands the publicist to stay in the phone booth until he tells his wife(Radha Mitchell)and the TV watching public of his cheating, lying and making use of others. Of course behind the demanding voice is a sharpshooter that is not afraid to pull the trigger. The senior officer on the scene(Forest Whitaker)tries to make sense of the situation while fighting back thoughts of his own past personal problems. At least 90% of this thriller is made up of witty, threatening and revealing banter between Farrell and Sutherland. And talk about a clever twist to end this flick. Also of note in the cast are: Katie Holmes, Richard T. Jones and Paula Jai Parker. Think twice about answering that ringing phone.”