‎Cellular (2004) directed by David R. Ellis • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Cellular

2004 Directed by David R. Ellis

If the signal dies so does she

A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped – and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.

Chris Evans Kim Basinger Jason Statham Jessica Biel William H. Macy Will Beinbrink Valerie Cruz Brenda Ballard Caroline Aaron Chase Bloch Chelsea Bloch Chantille Boudousque Robin Brenner Richard Burgi Paige Cannon Nikki Christian John Churchill Greg Collins Esther Mercado

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Nazeer Vawda ★★½

I can believe all the stupid things the film throws at you, but the I don't believe that Nokia breaking. I call bullshit on that
Review by Steve G ★★★½ 4

There are two very clear and distinct ways you can approach a film like Cellular:-

1) You can sit back and count the million different ways it's completely stupid, pick it to pieces and damn humanity all to hell for creating it.

2) You can sit back and count the million different ways it's completely stupid and have the absolute best time.

It's a shame that David R. Ellis is no longer with us. The terrible Shark Night aside, he had shown plenty of signs as being a director with a real flair for tongue-in-cheek action thriller rubbish. It's still strange to me that he fucked up so badly with Shark Night because that should so easily have been another…
Review by Gazelle Garcia ★★★ 2

After enough time passed between rewatches it's still decently thrilling and usually amusing. Chris Evans does a fine job for what the script asks for. The humor is very stuck in the early 2000s, appropriately so. I still think the secondary plot line with William H Macy is clunky and I still appreciate how Kim Basinger's character gets to become more hands on later in the film. Jason Statham is pretty cut and paste but I think a film like this wanted the villain to be as dry and not distract from the heroes. It could have been a benefit for them to be scarier but the point of the story is the obstacles along the way and not really the big bads.

"It's a day spa, you fuck!"
Review by AJ Black ★★½

Cellular is one of those movies that could only have been made in roughly the last fifteen to twenty years, hanging as it does on the concept of mobile phone communication. David R. Ellis brings the same kind of somewhat cheesy aesthetic from his Final Destination contributions to this thriller, lending it an odd blend between moments of trauma & violence and outright silliness as Chris Evans races around LA to try and save Kim Basinger's kidnapped housewife after a chance call to his cell phone. The actual plot itself is distinctively average & basic, with the cell phone hook the only real difference that makes it stand out in any way. It's also frequently mad as a box of frogs, lacking…
Review by Silent J ★★½ 1

An interesting premise, but an average film.
Review by Dawson Joyce ★★★½

February 2017: Flounder’s Scavenger Hunt #2
TASK #19: A film written by Chris Morgan!

Tense, exciting, and led by great performances from Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham, and William H. Macy, Cellular successfully manages to take typical Hollywood action thriller cliches, have fun with the ridiculousness of them, and create something surprisingly more nuanced than what's expected.

Recent reviews

Review by Ashton Kinley ★★★ 2

Can you imagine a man like Chris Evans just running into your classroom and yelling "RICKY MARTIN!!" over and over again at full volume like can you just imagine that???

And the following scene where Ricky Martin is then kidnapped like right in front of Chris Evans and the school security guard and Chris Evans just points at the car and is like "LOOK THAT KID IS BEING KIDNAPPED!!!" is so hysterical to me, this movie is honestly such a good comedy.
Review by margot g. ★★★

esas películas palomeras y exageradas en las cuales todo es posible y nunca nada sale mal ni ninguno de los buenos sale herido o muere y donde todo se resuelve al final son mi guilty pleasure.

el papel más guapo de chris evans.
Review by Victor Mazza ★★

Todos sabemos que, boa parte das ligações que afirmam que um amado ou conhecido foi sequestrado são falsas. O perigo verdadeiro ocorre quando essas são reais e há pouco a fazer, senão escutar eles sofrendo nas mãos dos bandidos.

Após ser contatado por uma estranha no seu telefone celular, um jovem terá que fazer tudo para que a ligação não caia para poder manter ela e sua família vivas.

Eis aqui um triste exemplo de uma boa ideia, embora um tanto forçada, que foi desperdiçada com péssimas escolhas. Com começo e meio mornos, e um fim apenas passável, Cellular tinha tudo para ser um divertido thriller de ação. Infelizmente, cenas de ação desapontantes, preferindo mostrar o que poderia ser sugerido…
Review by Kyle Schurmann ★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I refuse to believe in a movie where Jason Statham gets beaten by William H Macy and Chris Evans with a cellphone.
Review by nidheya ★★★

"Who are you? How did you get involved?"

"I'm Captain America, bitch."

I wouldn't call Cellular a good movie, but it was definitely a fun one. Bassinger and Evans acted the hell out of their roles in this fast-paced, edge of your seat thriller. Not extraordinary by any means, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Review by spaceygrl ★★★★★

I can't even begin to explain the wonderful glee I get from watching this movie. Is this an Oscar-winning film? No. Did it receive good reviews? Probably not. Will it age well? Nope. Definitely not. Did not, in fact. Is it on any Top 10 lists? No idea. But it's on mine.

I get it. Every single bad thing you could say about this movie, I totally agree. No matter what you say: I love this movie. It takes it self so seriously, but it's so campy. I love everything about it. The douchey lawyer who says "oh snaps!" "Modern technology is amazing. You know my phone remembers the last 50 incoming calls?" The improbable story line. "He's the one…
Review by Zodokai ★★★½

"Ricky Martin? You named your child Ricky Martin?"

In the early 2000s, there were quite a few movies released that focused on how amazingly cutting-edge cell phones were. We've certainly come a long way since then. Although the hyped cell phone features (call history AND video?! Woah!) seem kind of silly now, the premise of this film is still very interesting. I saw this in theaters and despite remembering enjoying it, I didn't remember much about it besides the electronics store scene. Rewatching today, I'm surprised by how well this one holds up. The plot is a little contrived and some of the characters seem unnaturally motivated, but the story was enticing enough to keep me focused and interested. Once…
Review by ewebster ★★★★

This movie was awesome. The premise of this movie is as such: Kim bassinger gets kidnapped in the first 5 minutes of the movie. we, the viewers, have no idea why, and apparently, neither does she. The kidnappers put her in a room in which there is a phone. Although the kidnappers are smart enough to smash the phone, they aren't smart enough to make sure the phone is completely unfunctional. By fiddling with the wires of the smashed phone, Bassinger is able to dial out, although she has no idea what numbers she's dialing, and eventually gets ahold of some random dude on his cell phone. Why was she kidnapped? Will this random dude help her? What's going on?…
Review by Val Sarmiento ★★½

Meh...