- I watched The Call today. Pacy low budget thrillers make me happy and comfortable, I like that they are honest about the small extent to which they are trying . But here is something about The Call that makes it a rare missed opportunity.
Image from Wikipedia
Did you know The Call was originally written as a television series? Here are 5 things about The Call (originally called The Hive) that make me believe it would’ve made a good TV show:
- A nice clean concept that will work repetitively: A look into the lives and loves of 911 operators in Los Angeles. Throw in a love triangle, some sort of PTSD management angle, 3 high end cases and a 2 part season finale per season and you are looking at syndication.
- Terrible dialogues: Regardless of how intense the scene is (Berry tries to win Breslins’ confidence: “What is your favorite movie? Bridesmaids”), the dialogue writing is consistently poor throughout the movie. I read on Wikipedia that the director was open to dialogue suggestions from the actors as they worked through the script. Now that is clear TV material.
- Weird vague woman empowerment angle: We all know that TV loves to sell woman- empowerment by making strong female leads do random heroic things. For instance, the last 20 minutes of this movie basically involve Halle Berry channeling her inner Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. On an unrelated note, did you know Halle Berry originally auditioned for the role of Clarice Starling?
Image from here
- Halle Berry’s hair: I’d stare at it and wonder if I could pull off those curls for at least 6 out of the 8 seasons. Also you can totally spend time picturing other people in it.
Image from Tumblr
- Regardless of how much we complain, mindless thrillers are amazing and engaging (this is not necessarily about The Call. Or is it).
It’s never too late Halle!
Here is a nice song that I hope calls out to you, and until next time, keep singing.
