Cellular review

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Hanging on for slick action and smart laughs charged with taut suspense? Cellular's got your number. A polished hybrid of Speed and Phone Booth (whose scripter Larry Cohen provides the story), it's a mobile thriller that has a feckless jock (Chris Evans) racing against time to save the kidnapped mother (a breathlessly OTT Kim Basinger) who cold-calls his Nokia begging for help.

Hitchcock would have had a field day with this economical premise, though not with its clueless hero: Evans makes so many elementary boo-boos, it's more a case of Dial M For Moron. But whether laughing with or at it, Cellular is very funny. Director David R Ellis shows the same touch that made Final Destination 2 such dumb fun, cutting briskly between the attic-bound Basinger and hardman kidnapper Jason Statham, William H Macy's dogged cop and Evans' amusing encounters with numerous unhelpful, obnoxious Los Angelenos.

A tidy potboiler that never stays still long enough to slip through its gaping plotholes.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

Latest in Thriller Shows
Noah Centineo in The Recruit season 2
Star of Netflix thriller show reveals sudden cancellation after two seasons: “Such a bummer”
Just One Look
A new "edge-of-your-seat" Harlan Coben thriller series has been quietly added to Netflix
Yellowjackets season 3
Yellowjackets season 3 episode 4's shock character death is a loss for the show, but proves the series is learning from season 2's mistakes
Yellowjackets
Who killed *spoiler* in Yellowjackets season 3? All our theories, explained
You season 5
The first clip for Netflix thriller series You season 5 teases Joe Goldberg's chilling return to New York
Jesse Plemons and Robert De Niro in Zero Day
Robert De Niro's new Netflix series is being called everything from "addictive" to "dull" as it debuts to mixed reviews and a low Rotten Tomatoes score
Latest in Reviews
Doggerland player board
Doggerland review: "A delicate dance of survival and management that doesn't feel weighted toward a single strategy"
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX gaming mouse standing upright on a wooden desk
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX review: "a force to be reckoned with"
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again season 1 review: "There have been far worse Marvel projects, but few as disappointing as this"
RTX 5070 Founders Edition and Asus Prime OC graphics card standing vertical on woodgrain desk next to plant and monitor
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 review: "far from a RTX 4090 rival, but I’d still call it a solid 4K GPU"
The two characters in Split Fiction dressed in fantasy gear each with a dragon on their back
Split Fiction review: "Cements Hazelight as the master of co-op games"
Acer Nitro V 14 gaming laptop on a wooden desk
Acer Nitro V 14 review: "a solid value proposition… if you can find one"