Savvy thriller ‘Cellular’ overcomes plot holes

In theaters

CELLULAR, directed by David Ellis, written by Chris Morgan, 94 minutes, rated PG-13.

The rip-snorting new thriller “Cellular” is a preposterous, winning joke. It’s so much fun you happily sustain disbelief throughout, accepting its many plot holes, its questionable lapses in logic and its occasional line of bad dialogue with a “who cares?” attitude.

The movie is a stunt, for sure, but it’s a stunt that entertains. It’s solely focused on giving audiences a rush and a good time and it succeeds.

What makes it work are several elements that come together to create a satisfying snap – the game cast and the terrific chase scenes, the handful of clever twists, director David Ellis’ savvy balance of humor, drama and tension, and its cutting comment on our cell phone-obsessed culture.

Can you hear me now, folks? This is a good movie.

The film was conceived by Larry Cohen, who wrote “Phone Booth,” another film about the importance of staying connected in an increasingly disconnected world. That movie was good, but this one surpasses it. So here’s to Cohen – a lifetime’s worth of unlimited, anywhere minutes for his trouble.

In the film, Kim Basinger is Jessica Martin, a teacher who gets brutally abducted by a handful of angry toughs who manhandle her from her home, shoot her maid in the back (the cowards), take Jessica to an unknown locale and toss her into an attic.

There, just behind her on a wooden post, is a phone that’s quickly smashed apart by the lead kidnapper (Jason Statham). After threatening to kill her for reasons unclear to Jessica, he leaves her in the attic, where she eventually is drawn to the faint sound of a buzzing dial tone.

Hands shaking, body trembling, Jessica turns to the damaged phone and realizes it might work with a little handiwork. Feverishly, she starts twisting wires and tapping for a connection – any connection – until she gets one. Soon, she’s pleading with a complete stranger, slacker Ryan (Chris Evans), on his cell phone. If Jessica can somehow convince him that she has indeed been kidnapped by a group of men who now are out to get her son and husband, it will be Ryan’s day to shine.

But is this just a prank call? Initially, Ryan thinks so – and then he believes otherwise when he hears Jessica being slapped around on the other end.

Determined to help, he bolts into action with William H. Macy’s Sgt. Bob Mooney eventually joining the case, which is steeped in corruption.

What’s impressive about “Cellular” isn’t just its blistering pace, but how many layers director Ellis and screenwriter Chris Morgan mine from its thin premise. The underused Basinger is vulnerable yet no fool as Jessica, Macy once again proves he can step into any role and make it memorable, and the relatively unknown Evans has just the right likable energy to become a star.

Grade: A-

On video and DVD

JERSEY GIRL, written and directed by Kevin Smith, 102 minutes, rated PG-13.

For 12 high-strung minutes in Kevin Smith’s “Jersey Girl,” Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez share the screen. It’s a pairing that proved disastrous for the former couple in “Gigli,” but this time out, they have chemistry and humor, which Smith pulls from them in performances that are more authentic than anything the couple gave us in the many canned interviews that preceded their romantic demise.

More surprising is that “Jersey Girl” isn’t half bad. Its story is a sappy, predictable tumble of cliches, but Smith counters with dialogue that’s often sharp and spontaneous, offering enough funny moments to make the movie moderately entertaining.

In it, Affleck is Ollie Trinke, a single dad, widower and successful New York publicist who is blackballed by the industry after creating a publicity gaff. Fade to black, with Ollie out of work.

Seven years later, the story picks up in New Jersey, where Ollie and his 7-year-old daughter, Gertie (Raquel Castro), are now living with Ollie’s father, Bert (George Carlin). There, where Ollie now toils at a less glamorous job, he’s still trying to pull his life together when he meets Maya (Liv Tyler), a cute video store clerk with an understanding smile and helpful advice on life who might just be the person to help Ollie get over his dead wife.

Do we all know how this movie ends? Sure we do. Do we wish it were better? Absolutely. Still, the film is more suited to Affleck’s limited talents than one of his lame action blockbusters and Tyler, always a treat, is a fresh presence onscreen.

This is Smith’s safest movie to date, but it’s also his most adult, a clear attempt to move beyond the comic book fantasy world in which he’s lived for so long and try something new. He isn’t entirely successful, but he also doesn’t entirely fail. His movie is above average, which these days proves better than most.

Grade: C+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.