The atrocious marketing campaign for the new Kim Basinger thriller \Cellular"" will be its kiss of death, as it leaves the impression that this attention-diverting little B-movie is an over-cooked rip-off of last year's ""Phone Booth."" In fact, the trailer looks more like a ""Saturday Night Live"" spoof than a legitimate preview of a coming attraction---a collection of standard thriller scenes lazily and thoughtlessly cobbled together. This is a shame, because ""Cellular"" is a modest, somewhat engaging time-killer that respects its audience and supplies enough humor and thrills to keep the proceedings somewhat enjoyable. For a movie essentially about talking on the telephone, it's not as bad as you'd think.
""Cellular's"" gimmick is simple: a damsel in distress only able to make one phone call speaks to a would-be rescuer she calls by accident. Basinger, a high school science teacher, is kidnapped by an intimidating thug (Jason Statham) and taken to a random attic. The kidnapper smashes the attic phone with a sledgehammer and stalks off, leaving a shaken, confused Basinger with its remnants. The central premise is established after Basinger turns MacGyver and starts tinkering with the shattered phone in a desperate attempt to reach someone. She finally reaches Ryan (Chris Evans), a beach bum trying to reconcile with his generic sorority girl ex. A series of highly intense and improbable hijinks ensues.
""Cellular"" has the wisdom to avoid too much exposition before the meat of the thriller, and pretty much ratchets up the tension after the opening credits. One minute Basinger is doting lovingly on her little tyke as he makes his way to the school bus; the next minute her kidnapper is busting down her door and shooting her housekeeper. Director David R. Ellis (of the guilty pleasure ""Final Destination 2"") knows he is making a schlocky action film, and is able to avoid any pitfalls of pretentiousness by not taking anything too seriously. By accepting that this is, by nature, a disposable film, Ellis fashions a perfectly serviceable thrill ride out of stock ingredients with brisk zeal.
Christopher Morgan's screenplay incorporates a hefty dose of clich??s in its central participants (as evidenced when soccer mom Basinger wistfully tells her son that she'll pick him up for soccer practice over swelling orchestral music), but strong characterization is not particularly necessary in a high-concept thriller. It helps, however, that the cast is uniformly convincing, from Statham's thug to Evans' resourceful slacker. Evans is burdened with most of the screen time, but has enough likeability to navigate through some fairly cheesy attempts at humor while maintaining audience goodwill. William H. Macy also provides stellar support as a retiring cop who ends up becoming a hero (he also has the honor of delivering the PG-13 film's lone f-word with enthusiastic relish).
""Cellular"" is an efficient mainstream lark of a thriller, building mileage out of the various uses of cell phones and delivering audience-pleasing action scenes and set pieces. It is much lighter than its moralistic, minimalist cousin ""Phone Booth,"" and much more superficially entertaining. Even though you may not remember it an hour after you see it, ""Cellular"" is a well-constructed, slick exploitation piece that's both fun and unremarkable.
