The Caller DVD
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Headline: Cat-and-Mouse Caper Featuring Langella and Gould Comes to DVD
Don’t be deceived by The Caller’s promising premise which sounds intriguing enough on its face. Writer/director Richard Leder was lucky enough to land a couple of lead actors of the caliber of Oscar-nominees in Elliot Gould (for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) and Frank Langella (for Frost Nixon) along with Laura Harring (the fetching femme fatale in Mulholland Dr.) as the love interest only to squander their collective talents in service of a yawner.
Set in New York City, the title character of this lame cat-and-mouse caper is Jimmy Stevens (Langella), the VP of an energy conglomerate which has for years successfully covered up a history of corrupt and malevolent behavior. He’s ostensibly become fed up with the dirty tricks and has decided to turn corporate whistleblower.
Jimmy hands over evidence to the authorities, knowing full well that it’s just a matter of time before his former colleagues figure out that he was the snitch. In the interim, over the phone, he anonymously retains the services of Private Eye Frank Turlotte (Gould) for two weeks to trail the hit man apparently hired to whack him.
But what Frank doesn’t know is that the detailed description he’s just been given matches that of Jimmy, not any contract killer. And exactly why has Jimmy orchestrated such an odd arrangement? Well, that aspect of this elliptical mystery would be unfair to divulge.
Suffice to say that after this intriguing setup, the story unfortunately meanders aimlessly for an hour to explore an assortment of ho-hum sidebars which prove to be red herrings. We meet the females in Jimmy’s life: his mother (Marion Servole), his girlfriend (Harring) and a precocious kid (Anabel Sosa) he rendezvous with daily on a park bench until the director finally puts us out of our misery by pulling a rabbit out of his cinematic hat during the denouement.
A caller you’ll want to put a block on.
Fair (1 star)
Unrated
In English and French with subtitles.
Running time: 95 minutes
Studio: Virgil Films & Entertainment
DVD Extras: Original trailer and photo gallery.
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