Phone Booth: Critic Reviews

91%

MovieWeb: 4 reviews

71%

RottenTomatoes: 200 reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

59

For all the coiled skill of Farrell's performance, the character remains a frantic, one-note hustler who gets no more interesting to watch as he unravels.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Stephen Holden New York Times (Top Critic)

30

Bogus on every level.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

Full Review » 9 years ago
Mike Clark USA Today (Top Critic)

63

A superficially gritty yet soullessly slick melodrama.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post (Top Critic)

What keeps Phone Booth going, despite its premise, is the acting and the writing, both of which are top-notch.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Stephen Hunter Washington Post (Top Critic)

It's really more a gimmick than a movie, but it hammers you flat the whole way through.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

75

Short, suspenseful, funny, and profane.
Full Review » 9 years ago
J. Hoberman Village Voice (Top Critic)

Absurdly set in some pre-cell-phone, post-Amadou Diallo alternate universe and generously stocked with logical inconsistencies, Phone Booth is best appreciated as hilarious pulp metaphor.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jack Mathews New York Daily News (Top Critic)

50

If this sounds like a Kafkaesque spoof thrown together for the annual Publicists Guild of America luncheon, Larry Cohen's script is only occasionally that clever.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Eric Harrison Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

75

This is a slight story enlivened by good acting, crisp pacing and some graceful comic touches.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Philip Wuntch Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

75

A tense, thought-provoking drama.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

75

The movie is Farrell's to win or lose, since he's onscreen most of the time, and he shows energy and intensity.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Mark Caro Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

75

A lean, mean tension machine, setting up its premise, executing it with smarts, throwing in enough twists to keep things interesting, and wrapping it up before anyone can get fatigued or reflective.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

38

A high-concept hostage drama of absolutely no value to anyone -- except maybe Bell Atlantic, whose titular street-corner pay phone is on screen for almost every agonizing frame.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jeff Strickler Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

Full Review » 8 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

67

The reason it works is simple: Farrell.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Bill Muller Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

60

A passable thriller.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Andrew Sarris New York Observer (Top Critic)

Raises more questions than it answers as it attempts to convince us that a moralistic sniper would torture a sleazy publicist into tears of guilt and remorse over what amounts to a few paltry, venial sins.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

A first-tier thriller, Phone Booth will make you think twice before you ever enter a public phone facility again, but while it curls your hair, it makes you think.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Todd McCarthy Variety (Top Critic)

Full Review » 4 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

75

Farrell delivers a tour de force in this clever cross between Sweet Smell of Success and Dog Day Afternoon.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

60

The makings of a taut little drama are rendered into a reasonably taut piece by a big name cast and a director who once ruined the Batman franchise.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

60

Anyone inclined to argue with the logic of the story -- and there's certainly much to argue about -- is advised to just sit back and watch how Farrell's Stu unravels before our eyes.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

63

This whole flick gives off a certain musty odour -- it's meant to be now but it sure doesn't smell that way.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com (Top Critic)

Full Review » 9 years ago