Cellular

Director David R. Ellis's Cellular has all the earmarks of a genuinely smart thriller rewritten by a studio-lapdog script doctor urged to add car chases and comic relief. The movie makes cunning use of the titular technology in a plot that follows an utterly bland beach dude (Chris Evans) whose cell phone is on the receiving end of a desperate, credibly random call for help from a kidnapped woman (screaming, crying Kim Basinger). Before long, Evans is robbing a phone store for a charger (his battery is low) and stealing cars to drive like Mario Andretti through downtown L.A., trying to beat the bad guys to Basinger's husband (it's him they're really after) so he can save the day. But the otherwise terrific tension generated here is consistently undermined by these overblown bits of action...and by a distracting deluge of cheap laughs...and by the principals making incredibly stupid choices just to keep the story afloat. While Evans uses the gadgets on his mobile phone (call logs, video captures, etc.) in truly resourceful ways to outwit the kidnappers, Cellular misses the call on so many common-sense blunders that the plot threatens to collapse under any measure of scrutiny. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director David Ellis and writers Larry Cohen and Chris Morgan (as well as uncredited appearances by Ellis's sister, co-stunt coordinator Annie Ellis, and daughter, associate producer Tawny Ellis--along with David, the trio make cell phone calls to cast and crew, including New Line CEO Bob Shaye), five deleted/alternate scenes (including an original ending) with optional commentary (6 min.), the 25-minute “making-of” featurette “Dialing Up Cellular,” a 19-minute “Celling Out” documentary on cell phone technology, and the 26-minute LAPD documentary “Code of Silence: Inside the Rampart Scandal.” Bottom line: a very good extras package for a somewhat disappointing thriller. (R. Blackwelder)