Credits
Distributed by
20th Century Fox
Production companies
Fox 2000 Pictures
Zucker/Netter Productions
Directed by
Joel Schumacher
Written by
Larry Cohen
Produced by
Gil Netter
David Zucker
Starring
Colin Farrell
Forest Whitaker
Katie Holmes
Radha Mitchell
Kiefer Sutherland
Cinematography
Matthew Libatique
Edited by
Mark Stevens
Music by
Harry Gregson-Williams
Synopsis
Stuart Shepard is an arrogant and dishonest New York City publicist who has been having an affair with Pamela McFadden behind the back of his wife Kelly. While in Times Square, Stuart uses a public phone booth to contact Pam, allowing him to avoid detection by Kelly. During the call, he is interrupted by a pizza delivery man who attempts to deliver a free pizza to him, but Stuart aggressively turns him away. As soon as Stuart completes his call, the phone rings. Stuart answers; a man on the other end, who knows his name, warns him not to leave the booth, threatening to tell Kelly about Pam. The caller tells Stuart that he has tested two previous individuals who have done wrong deeds in a similar manner, giving each a chance to reveal the truth to those they wronged, but in both cases they refused and were killed. Stuart must confess his feelings to both Kelly and Pam to avoid the same fate. To demonstrate the threat, the caller fires a suppressed sniper rifle with pinpoint accuracy. The caller then contacts Pam and connects her to Stuart, who admits that he is married. The booth is approached by three sex workers demanding to use the phone, but Stuart refuses to leave, without revealing his dilemma. Leon, a pimp, breaks the glass side of the booth, grabs Stuart and pummels him while the sex workers cheer. The caller offers to "make him stop" and in Stuart's confusion, he inadvertently asks for this; the caller shoots Leon dead. The sex workers immediately blame Stuart, accusing him of having a gun, as the police and news crews converge on the location. NYPD Captain Ed Ramey seals off the area and negotiates to make Stuart leave the booth, but he refuses. Stuart tells the caller that there is no way they can incriminate him, but the caller draws his attention to a handgun planted in the roof of the phone booth. As Kelly and Pam both arrive on the scene, the caller demands that Stuart tell Kelly the truth, which he does. The caller then orders Stuart to choose between Kelly and Pam, and the woman he does not choose will be shot. Stuart secretly uses his cell phone to call Kelly, allowing her to overhear his conversation with the caller; she quietly informs Ramey of this. Meanwhile, Stuart continues to confess to everyone that his whole life is a lie, to make himself look better than he really is. Stuart's confession provides sufficient distraction to allow the police to trace the payphone call to a nearby building. Stuart warns the caller that the police are on the way, and the caller replies that if he is caught, he will kill Kelly. Desperate, Stuart grabs the handgun and leaves the booth, begging for the sniper to kill him instead. The police fire upon Stuart, while a SWAT team breaks into the room that the caller was tracked to, only to find a rifle and a man's corpse. Stuart regains consciousness; the police fired only rubber bullets, stunning but not harming him. Stuart and Kelly happily reconcile. As the police bring down the body, Stuart identifies it as the pizza delivery man from earlier. Stuart gets medical treatment at a local ambulance; as he does, the real caller passes by, warning Stuart that if his newfound honesty does not last, he will return, before disappearing into the crowd. Later, the pay phone rings and another man answers.