A ringing phone has to be answered and a juicy plot has to be made into a major motion picture.

I've been looking forward to Phone Booth since I first heard the scuttlebutt about it a few years ago. It's time to see how it plays out in reality vs. my hopes.

When it was postponed another six months because of the Beltway sniper shootings (a good choice), I was made to wait that much longer.

So how did director Joel Schumacher and cast do? Not bad. I think I anticipated even less budget, a guy in a booth held at gunpoint by a sniper. But instead of a crowd, no one knows - no cops, no friends; he's all alone. Still, the way the filmmakers did Phone Booth, I have few quarrels.

I felt a bit detached, so while suspenseful, I wasn't freaking out, which also matters because the main character isn't very sympathetic. And surprisingly, the entire time I didn't crack a single Alf or Mike Piazza 10-10-220 jokes. I must have been involved a little bit in the story.

Colin Farrell stars, and as always he rocks. As Stu, he's an ass, dismissive to everyone he knows. A charmer, sure, as a wheeling-and-dealing publicist, but still a jerk, "guilty of inhumanity to (his) fellow man."

Forrest Whitaker is the officer in charge of the scene, and always a nice addition. He can come across fully in authority yet always empathetic.

Katie Holmes is Farrell's wannabe mistress, and Radha Mitchell is wife Kelly. They don't do much other than look worried.

Sniper Kiefer Sutherland, though, is just a voice, yet dominates the movie. Calm, cool, collected and completely in control of the situation.

The hookers, though, are the main negative. The skank ho's are incredibly over-the-top. I wanted to shoot them myself, and even used my finger to gun them down from my seat as they yelled and screamed and whined and became too much of an annoyance.

They can't ruin the movie, though. There's enough suspense, mind games, solid acting and dark humor to make Phone Booth worth your while. And at 75 minutes, it's a short movie and thus doesn't dwell too long on the situation, which is good since it's told in real time, and the audience would be worn out considerably by the intensity.