Featured Audience Ratings

• Everett J

  
  Here's another generic thriller that isn't really anything fresh, but it's still entertaining. Halle Berry stars as a 911 operator who gets a call from a kidnapped girl(Abigail Breslin), and she tries to save her. There's a few good scenes, but it's one of… More
  Here's another generic thriller that isn't really anything fresh, but it's still entertaining. Halle Berry stars as a 911 operator who gets a call from a kidnapped girl(Abigail Breslin), and she tries to save her. There's a few good scenes, but it's one of those "seen it all before" type of movies. Berry does good, and Breslin is fine even though she spends most of the movie in a trunk just freaking out. I watched this at home, but I have a feeling this would play better in the theater as a "date movie", full of people. It has a good run time of around 90 minutes, and when it starts to feel long, it wraps it up. I didn't really care for the way the movie ended. The last 15 minutes didn't make a whole lot of sense, and felt like a different movie from the rest of it. Still, it's ok, worth a watch, but not much more than that.

• Liam G

  
  Surprisingly passable...then the third act begins.

• Glenn G

  
  Sometimes a filmmaking challenge is enough to sustain my interest. How to you make a film exciting which takes place almost entirely in confined spaces? CUJO, BURIED, and PHONE BOOTH are examples of these contained thrillers. THE CALL joins this list, and most of the time, it… More
  Sometimes a filmmaking challenge is enough to sustain my interest. How to you make a film exciting which takes place almost entirely in confined spaces? CUJO, BURIED, and PHONE BOOTH are examples of these contained thrillers. THE CALL joins this list, and most of the time, it works really well. Halle Berry is Jordan, a 911 Operator, who takes a call from a kidnapped girl (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE herself, Abigail Breslin), and tries desperately to save her while redeeming a past mistake. This is pretty cookie cutter stuff here, but director Brad Anderson knows how to keep things moving. In lesser hands, we would have grown bored right away, because the large majority of this film shows us two people talking on a phone. Anderson, however, ratchets up the tension, aided by a lean, mean script by Richard D'Ovidio , and managed to keep me on the edge of my seat through most of it. Things do run off the rails in the last act, where Halle Berry manages to ignore ALL of her considerable training and become the person audiences are guaranteed to scream such things as, "Don't go in there!" and "Girl!!!". Additionally, there are a few too many loose ends (seriously with the inability to track the call?) and shoddy police work (if only the cops had looked around a little bit more), and I could have done without Anderson's annoying habit of freeze frames right before something excessively violent was about to happen. The editing is crisp and there isn't one ounce of fat in the film. It hits GO and GOES! Berry is appropriately tense and Breslin proves scrappy, but poor Michael Imperioli is not going to let this topple THE SOPRANOS on his resume. A big shout out to my friend, Rakefet Abergel, who shows up briefly as a fellow operator. WTG Girl! All in all, THE CALL plays out like an exciting series pilot. Imagine if Clarice Starling from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS could solve crimes using a headset and a good GPS, et voila! It's not terribly deep or original, but it does the job.

• Bradley W

  
  The Call is a waste of time and money and reveals the old theory that new ideas are rare in Hollywood. I really tried to enjoy this film due to its interesting concept and Halle Berry, but the concept doesn't bring anything new to the table and Berry's performance is… More
  The Call is a waste of time and money and reveals the old theory that new ideas are rare in Hollywood. I really tried to enjoy this film due to its interesting concept and Halle Berry, but the concept doesn't bring anything new to the table and Berry's performance is mediocre at best. I don't see why this Oscar winning actress levels herself down to a film like this, but she would not be the first one to do this. I enjoy thrillers that change the game, try new stuff that make us leave the theater and say "wow I did not see that coming." It might be perhaps because I have very high standards for films or didn't give this film enough of a chance, but when I watched this I just didn't find this quest for redemption through a phone call all that interesting. It reaches some great moments during the opening of the film, but the film slowly goes downhill from there as it plays out as predictable and slow as possible. We know how the film will turn out and the script doesn't make any attempt to twist or surprise the audience, so you pretty much get what you expect and nothing more. This was just another movie that will be forgotten within a day and won't be remembered as anything more other than a way to kill an hour and a half. Overall, don't come into this film expecting something great, but if you enjoy mindless and predictable entertainment than please be my guest. The story follows a LAPD 9-1-1 phone operator (Halle Berry) who seeks out vengeance for the murder of a young girl after she accidentally causes her death by calling her phone and alerting the intruder in her home. When the same intruder kidnaps another girl (Abigail Breslin) she gets into action and tries to redeem herself by saving this girl. The plot of the film is a very long description of what to do if you are a female who is kidnapped by a crazy guy, and it doesn't work. I like the idea of somebody being shown how to escape a psychopath but it really just didn't all add up on the screen. Mainly because the characters don't matter and we never really grow to care about any of them. We are given some innocent and cliché girl near the beginning of the film (played by Breslin) who is sweet and very sympathetic to many audience members, and she also has a friend with her is a bit of a handful to say the least. Than within a few minutes of introducing this character she is kidnapped and we are instantly supposed to root for her and actually care about her, and personally for me I need a little more than some boring characteristics and 3 minutes of screen time to care about who she is. Now the 9-1-1 operator must save her and that is the overall point of the film. I do not criticize the film for this but I just wish we had been given more and I felt that it just didn't deliver. Berry's character is somewhat likable but that is mainly because Berry is such a good actress, which makes me question why she chose such an odd character with her great talents. I couldn't stand the villain of the film, who was nothing more than a prime example of how a villain should not be written in a film. He was just crazy and had no other characteristics or goals that made me care about who he was or what he's done. I will admit this script provides some tense and exciting moments, but it's an overall lazy script that felt like it should've been a short film other than a full feature. The cast has some very good talent that I believe was the main reason this received any buzz, and they can thank Berry for providing enough talent for a lazy film. Halle Berry gives an emotional performance from an imperfect character, and although she is hidden beneath a boring script I could see that she is still giving it her all in this film. At the beginning of the film I could see some brilliant acting as she looks at the horrors of her own failure, and it really impressed me that she could do so much with so little to work with. This is nothing award worthy, but it still shows me she is a brilliant actress who should not level herself to films like this. Abigail Breslin screams and cries for about 90% of this film, so it was very difficult to rate her performance since she in the trunk of a car for a long period of time. I cannot see why they needed her in the film, I mean they could've gotten any random girl off the street but instead they said "no we need to get Abigail Breslin for this." I just felt like she provided very little to a very boring character. Morris Chestnut wasn't bad, but he really didn't do much that helped enhance the movie or make it memorable. He is establishing himself as a very forgettable actor. Michael Eklund may be a good actor hidden behind a very stupid character, I mean I just couldn't believe how cliché and sad the writers must've been to give pretty much the exact same kidnapper from "Taken." Overall a pretty dull cast with the exception of Berry who is the main reason I, and others, saw this flick. The Call isn't a movie we can enjoy or talk about, it's just a film that will be forgotten within a few months and will fall into the long history of forgotten films. It's very difficult to review a movie like this because there really is very little to talk about because the film doesn't do anything new that we haven't seen before. Without a doubt many audience members will love the film because they have very low standards and don't care that the film is predictable, but I just have high standards that must be met with a film like this. Director Brad Anderson might know what it takes to make a good thriller, but the script confines him from making any big strides and it makes his direction feel like something I could find on an episode of NCIS. I expect to be amazed when I go to the movies, but this feels just like something we could find on NBC every week. New ideas are something I love to see, and sadly we rarely see this anymore and I am forced to sit through films like this that waste my time and only entertain me every 30 minutes. It low-budget might have been the cause of this, or maybe the lack of good writers, but whatever the problem was it just didn't work well on screen. I can assure you this is not one of the worst film I have seen this year, but I will recommend that you stay away unless you want to have your money wasted. .

• Fascade F

  
  This movie gives us some kind of insight as to what happens when a 911 phone emergency operator gets involved with a psychotic and insane homicidal maniac. Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) gets the opportunity to handle a really disturbing call, which changes the way on how she handles… More
  This movie gives us some kind of insight as to what happens when a 911 phone emergency operator gets involved with a psychotic and insane homicidal maniac. Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) gets the opportunity to handle a really disturbing call, which changes the way on how she handles calls of the future because of the fatal outcome back in the past. Couple of months later the killer returns abducting young but vigilant Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) Jordan decides to not let what already happened to the last victim happen again. With her boyfriend Officer Paul Phillips (Morris Chestnut) and his partner Jake Devans (David Ortunga) try to comb the city, looking for Casey, before it is too late, Jordan decides to do the unthinkable, in this edge of your seat thriller.

• Jeff B

  
  Having not learned her lesson from a Perfect Stranger, Halle Berry shows real Monster's Balls trying to sell moviegoers on seeing a movie so ridiculously bad that it makes Catwoman look like AFI's Top 100 Greatest Movies rolled into 1. Sure, this actress has a Call-ing, but… More
  Having not learned her lesson from a Perfect Stranger, Halle Berry shows real Monster's Balls trying to sell moviegoers on seeing a movie so ridiculously bad that it makes Catwoman look like AFI's Top 100 Greatest Movies rolled into 1. Sure, this actress has a Call-ing, but it's not for starring in wannabe faint makers so laughably piss pour that they should've skipped right to being ridiculed for laughs on Mystery Science Theater. Not only does it pull out every cliched trick in the book (no, don't render your attacker completely unconscious when opportunity knocks, just lightly bop them on the head so they can pull you back by the hair moments later). But this is the least of The Call's infractions. The movie actually switches gears mid-race, giving up on the only hint of premise, er, promise in an otherwise painful moviegoing experience. In this R-rated thriller, veteran 911 operator Jordan (Berry) takes a life-altering call from a kidnapped teenage girl (Breslin), only to realize that she must confront a serial killer from her past to save the victim. Oscar-winner Berry has slummed it before (BAPs, Dark Tide). Her latest vehicle, however, starts out as a Sorry, Wrong Number-style thriller about an operator who's helplessly confined her desk listening to a murderous game. Oh, it's not entertainingly tense by any stretch, but it's more interesting than what develops-a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure bout of heroism with a ludicrous 11th Hour twist. The scariest call must've been Berry signing off on this flick to her agent after reading the script. Bottom line: Dial M For Moron.

• Andreia C

  
  It's a good thriller, it doesn't bring anything new to the table but it's good. We also get an insight on how things works at 911 operations and how difficult it can be to cope with some calls.

• Christopher H

  
  For being a thriller about a 911 operator sitting in a chair, "The Call" actually builds enough suspense to keep the audience involved. Although most of the situations feel incredulous and uninspired, the overall kitsch of the story is unique enough to keep one interested.… More
  For being a thriller about a 911 operator sitting in a chair, "The Call" actually builds enough suspense to keep the audience involved. Although most of the situations feel incredulous and uninspired, the overall kitsch of the story is unique enough to keep one interested. Produced by WWE Studios, as one professional wrestler as an extremely small supporting role, the film never falls off the deep end like most of their previously produced endeavors. Halle Berry comes off a tad out of place in her starring role, still the highlight of the film but never able to carry it beyond what it actually is, which is an average thriller with little to no follow through, displaying one of the worst final acts to grace the screen yet this year. Wow, how Abigail Breslin has grown up, displaying a maturity when she's not screaming incoherently or strapped, topless, to a medical chair. However horrid I was picturing this film to be, I was pleasantly surprised to find it reach the annals of "alright".

• Philip P

  
  It is tough to walk into a movie like The Call without having somewhat of low expectations. In seeing the trailer it appears to be a beat by beat thriller we've seen time and time again that could just have well been a Lifetime movie about the epidemic of abductions, especially… More
  It is tough to walk into a movie like The Call without having somewhat of low expectations. In seeing the trailer it appears to be a beat by beat thriller we've seen time and time again that could just have well been a Lifetime movie about the epidemic of abductions, especially considering the focus of the kidnappings here are teenage girls. It also didn't bode well for the film that it starred Halle Berry. For me, she has become somewhat of the equivalent to Cuba Gooding Jr. and that is in no way a shot at their ethnicity. That train of thought is more directly influenced by the fact that since winning her Oscar, Berry has appeared in almost nothing but lackluster films. The exceptions being a few shots at redemption such as Things We Lost in the Fire which never caught on and of course last years widely debated Cloud Atlas. I truly enjoyed Atlas and believe it to have been a film not appreciated because it was misunderstood, but regardless Berry was neither the reason that film succeeded in execution or failed at the box office. Still, her presence has long become an indicator of the quality a film might possess and though she hasn't dissolved into the straight to home video star Gooding has, there is no reason as of late to believe that something like The Call would be worthy of any positive chatter. Turns out, this film is a pretty fun, engaging, and even sometimes truly thrilling piece of entertainment. Maybe it was the fact I didn't expect to much or that the audience I viewed the film with seemed to enjoy it so much, but I came out of the film rather impressed by the way director Brad Anderson (The Machinist) taught an old dog some new tricks. read the whole review at www.reviewsfromabed.com

• Leina R

  
  It's like a really good lifetime movie. Stupid but a lot of fun.

• Jason C

  
  Man, talk about a near miss. It was too Hollywooded up for my liking. A different director could have made it much better. Darker. The Call kept me interested and moved along at a great pace. The ending was good also. Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin are great. This would be a good… More
  Man, talk about a near miss. It was too Hollywooded up for my liking. A different director could have made it much better. Darker. The Call kept me interested and moved along at a great pace. The ending was good also. Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin are great. This would be a good rental.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings