Give 'Cellular' a ring

By Tom Long
The Detroit News

CELLULAR (PG-13) Three Stars (Good) A postsummer treat, this well-paced thriller has a young slacker (Chris Evans) trying to help a kidnapped woman (Kim Basinger) who has called him at random on his cell phone. Surprisingly entertaining. Basinger, Evans and William H. Macy star for director David R. Ellis. New Line Cinema, 94 minutes.

It also should mark the arrival of actor Chris Evans (he'll be playing the Human Torch in the upcoming "Fantastic Four" movie), whose natural presence and regular-guy energy keep "Cellular" grounded even when it's spinning in circles.

Wait a minute, don't Kim Basinger and William H. Macy and Jason Statham star in this thing? Yes, they do, but it's Evans' movie all the way.

And that way does wind around some. Evans plays Ryan, your standard Venice Beach slacker dude trying to prove he's responsible when, deedle-deedle-deedle, his cell phone rings.

It's a sobbing, near-hysterical woman named Jessica Martin (Basinger) on the phone, saying she's been kidnapped and is afraid her son and husband will soon be nabbed as well. After he figures out it isn't a prank, Ryan drives to a police station with the woman — who's using a shattered phone that won't redial — still on the line. He tells a desk cop named Mooney (Macy) what's going on, but the cop gets distracted and Ryan starts to lose the signal.

And thus begins Ryan's long and crazy day of driving around trying to save the son and husband from abduction, figure out where Jessica is, keep his cell phone charged and stay out of tunnels. If he loses the connection, she's lost.

Director and former stuntman David R. Ellis showed moments of flash in the otherwise absurd "Final Destination I" and moments of heart in "Homeward Bound II," but he puts it all together in a tight commercial package here. Though Basinger's plight is dire, there's plenty of humor thrown in as well and the pace never lags. What could have been a series of conversations in terror becomes a complete buzz of a film.

Basinger is appropriately panicked here, and Statham does his patented snarling menace thing as the lead bad guy. And kudos also to Rick Hoffman, who's making a career out of playing weaselly lawyer-types. But Macy shines over all others as always, traveling from buffoon to action hero without missing a beat, in a way offering an older version of Evans' character.

Sure it's all silly and yes, there are car crashes galore, girls in bikinis and lots of shootouts. But when car chases, bikinis and shootouts are outlawed this just won't be America anymore. "Cellular" is grand cheesy fun. Give it a ring.

Rated PG-13 for violence, terror, language, sex.