Mobile phones make fodder for a "quick, slick and silly thriller" by director David R Ellis. Newcomer Chris Evans (no, not the ginger one) plays the hapless hero who gets a frantic call from a kidnapped Kim Basinger. It shifted a fair amount of popcorn at cinemas although its by-the-numbers execution means it will likely be forgotten as quickly as... Oh, what's the movie about the thing with the wotsit starring whatsername?

Busy Line

In Dialling Up screenwriter Larry Cohen reveals that he originally pitched the movie to Alfred Hitchcock in the 60s, although the central conceit involved a phone booth rather than a mobile (which of course hadn't yet been invented). It's perhaps the most interesting anecdote in this standard 'making of' featurette otherwise devoted to a lot of gushing and backslapping between cast and crew. But the award for dullest featurette must go to Celling Out, an exploration of the "social, political and economic impact" of mobile phones on modern society. Somebody call the doctor, we're slipping into a coma...

Much more interesting is a documentary on the Rampart Scandal - only tenuously linked to the film, but hey, who cares after that phone culture featurette? Here an investigative reporter for the LA Times paints a disturbing picture of corruption at the LAPD, a story he broke back in 2000, but which still haunts the department today. Lawyers for the prosecution provide further evidence of dirty dealings and there's also testimony from the accused.

Call Waiting

Director David R Ellis provides commentary for five deleted scenes. They include a not-so alternate opening that finds Evans and his buddies covertly filming girls in bikinis with their mobile phones (very mature). There's also an extended finale in which Evans gets to kiss the girl ie his real-life squeeze Jessica Biel.

Ellis doesn't miss a trick for the feature commentary, randomly calling up members of the cast and crew on his cell phone to talk about the movie. Among them is Evans who shockingly remarks, "I hate cellular phones!" and co-writer Chris Morgan who explains the difference between his draft of the script and an earlier version by Larry Cohen ie "I took out all the twists." Genius!

For the most part it's a bright and breezy bonus package but there's actually very little in the way of behind-the-scenes access. Like the film, it's fun for a while but you won't be calling your friends about it.

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