Funrahi Movie Reviews

The Call

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes (95 minutes)

Rated R for violence, disturbing content and some language.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Do

Not

Put

This

Call

On

Hold!

3.5 out of 5

The Call Review

What's Good:
Building up of suspense and excitement, some tense moments.
What's Bad:
Two people talking over the whole movies, seems like a sell-out!
Verdict:
It's a lot better than you might expect a movie like this to be.
Watch or Not:
Watch it if you like the genre.

Audience Ratings for The Call

53.0%
112 Ratings
1 2 3 4 5
hate it don't like it it's ok it's good it's great

Plot Summary

When veteran 911 operator, Jordan (Halle Berry), takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl's life.

Critics Reviews for The Call

43 Critics like this movie.
Reviews Counted: 21 | Positive Review: 9 | Negative Review: 12 | Average Rating: 2.8/5

Let's call The Call what it is: high quality trash that both diminishes and is redeemed by all the talents who have deigned to bring it to life.
Critic Score: 3/5

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

If you're going to watch a movie in which two people talk on the phone for most of the film, it's not the worst thing in the world for one of the folks involved to have the face of Storm from the X-Men.
Critic Score: B

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Clark Collis
Clark Collis
Entertainment Weekly

This is as brain-dead as a movie can be and it assumes the audience will have the I.Q. of a rutabaga.
Critic Score: 1.5/4

March 15, 2013 Full Review
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

It's a lot better than you might expect a movie like this to be.
Critic Score: 3/4

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger

"The Call" consciously decides to slowly drown itself in the tub.
Critic Score: D+

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Laremy Legel
Laremy Legel
Film.com

Yes, it's cheese, but it's good cheese.
Critic Score: B

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Adam Graham
Detroit News

I'll say one thing for "The Call": Its ending is actually a bit of a surprise. Just when you think it couldn't get any stupider, pow!
Critic Score: 1.5/4

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Sara Stewart
New York Post

Can't someone come up with screenwriting software that signals when a script has made the fatal slip from hyped-up suspense to sheer ludicrousness?
Critic Score: 2/4

March 15, 2013 Full Review
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post

... a breakneck, truly thrilling thriller, one that builds excitement through both brains and brutality ...
Critic Score: 4

March 15, 2013 Full Review
James Rocchi
MSN Movies

The material has the mild impact of a special episode of a network crime series, with Eklund's villain a figure of mannered creepiness rather than profound chills.
Critic Score: 2/5

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Sheri Linden
Los Angeles Times

If it were any more intense would require a complete physical and medical clearance for admission into the theater.
Critic Score: 3/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

A sputtering, so-so B thriller with a neat hook but very little personality.
Critic Score: 2/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Chicago Sun-Times

The Call cribs from so many other psychological thrillers that it might as well be called "The Girl With the Lovely Bones Cellular Silence of the Lambs.''
Critic Score: 2/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

An effectively creepy thriller about a 911 operator and a young miss in peril, "The Call" is a model of low-budget filmmaking.
Critic Score: 5/5

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
New York Times

The shoddy attention to character, plausibility, and detail is particularly surprising coming from Anderson, a director of smart indie thrillers like The Machinist, Session 9 and Transsiberian.
Critic Score: 4/10

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Ian Buckwalter
NPR

Thinking about seeing The Call? You may want to put that on hold.
Critic Score: 2/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Bruce Demara
Toronto Star

Maybe Anderson wants to sell out, but he's not very good at it.
Critic Score: 2/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

"The Call" dials up a shallow thrill ride, but one efficiently peppered with your typical "don't go in there!" moments.
Critic Score: 3/5

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Jake Coyle
Associated Press

The film is at once shamelessly transparent, manipulative, and far-fetched, and impossibly suspenseful. You'll want to take a shower afterward - that's how icky you'll feel.
Critic Score: 2/4

March 14, 2013 Full Review
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

There's little to differentiate this high-pitched screamer from a particularly feverish Law and Order rerun.

March 12, 2013 Full Review
Andrew Barker
Variety

For the most part ... a tense, extreme-jeopardy thriller that delivers the intended goods.

March 12, 2013 Full Review
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Hollywood Reporter

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