Well what can you say about a film that is a direct reflection of society?s current technological status? Seemingly birthed through the idea of, ?wouldn?t it be cool to revolve a thriller based on our dependency of cell phones?? ?Cellular? in that respect comes up big; however, in substance it?s downright ridiculous. Kim Basinger returns to the big screen in this popcorn flick as a soccer mom wife of a wealthy realtor who within 5 minutes of the film gets kidnapped from her mansion in southern California. She miraculously wires together a broken phone in her attic imprisonment and manages to reach an anonymous beach bum named Ryan (played by Chris Evans) to whom she entrusts her life and the life of her family. Now it?s up to him to single-handedly save them through a series of running around hijacking cars and causing chaos in downtown Los Angeles in order to find them in time.

The difficulty about this film was not the acting, for one could get past its mediocrity (with the exception of William H. Macy?s performance). It was more so the believability of the concept of the plot. If you want to base a film solely revolving around a cell phone as your catalyst with life and death on the line, you better be prepared to establish a necessary sense of realism. If not then your audience will find various instances where credibility within both your story and characters to be lacking. I found myself comparing the entire situation as one long episode of FX?s, ?The Shield?, without the entertainment and in-your-face intensity.

Bottom Line: A two-star film at best, ?Cellular? won?t leave you questioning whether or not to pick up a strange phone call on your cell phone. But hey, if Kim Basinger were calling my cell phone, you better believe I?d answer it. Take a date to this film, but don?t expect any surprises with its somewhat predictable scenarios.

C






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