Synopsis:
Craig, a young boy, befriends the elderly billionaire John Harrigan. Craig then gives him a mobile phone. However, when the man dies, Craig discovers that he can communicate with his friend from the grave.
The Stephen King short story Mr. Harrigan’s Phone has been turned into a movie starring the excellent Donald Sutherland along side up and coming horror star Jaden Martell( The Lodge, It Chapters 1&2). The story is a pretty basic coming of age mystery movie. I don’t know if would place the blame on the script or the source material.
Jaden Martel’s character finds comfort in Donald Sutherland’ as grandfather like approach towards Martell’s Craig, who ends up taking a job from Sutherland’s John Harrigan, to read books since John’s eyes aren’t as great as they once were. During this time Craig is dealing with grief from losing his mother at a young age. There’s nothing new or bold in this storyline here.
I think with Blumhouse Productions, Ryan Murphy being beside this film it could have been much more gripping than it turned out to be. To me it’s more for the older crowd or even lifetime movie of the week, then something we’d see from a Stephen King adaptation it’s one of the weaker ones we’ve seen. The final act is great but there’s too much soap opera like dialogue in the film that doesn’t work. Blumhouse has been on a roll this year, this is their first miss for me.
Overall Grade: 2/5 Stars
