How do you define a dumb
movie? Perhaps, better yet, I can elucidate by way of an example. Take The
Call, for instance - the 2013 thriller directed by Brad Anderson and
starring Halle Berry as a 911 dispatcher who must save the life of a teenage girl
(Abigail Breslin) who has been abducted and thrown in the trunk of his car.
It should be noted from
the start that dumb movies are not necessarily bad movies. Indeed, The Call
is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, and its central premise is
wrung of all its dramatic potential. I would be lying if I said that I was not
on the edge of my seat as Berry instructed Breslin on how to attract other
driver’s attention on the highway from within the trunk, and in moments like
these I – like the film – reveled in all its suspenseful splendor. Ultimately,
however, The Call is a hollow piece of work, best enjoyed if one’s brain
is checked at the door and the pesky nuisance of logical reasoning is not
brought into it.
Like so many movies
predicated upon such dramatic elevator pitch ideas like The Call’s, its
central premise is not enough to sustain it and the film’s final act feels like
a cheap rip-off of The Silence of the Lambs leading to a thoroughly
underwhelming finale which only cements the film’s status as a dumb but
harmless way to spend two hours. The Call is the type of film that is
seemingly designed to be relegated to the bargain bin, but remains sufficiently
entertaining enough for at least one viewing.
