If you're aware of the British situation comedy called Coupling, from 2000, then you have a pretty good idea of what this short film is about. Two guys, flatmates, are on screen. One asks the other to use his cell phone. He takes the phone and begins to agonize about calling a girl whose number he got at a party the other night. He finally does but that sets off a series of call backs as the three (the two guys and the girl) try to sort out their relationship to each other. It's very modern and clever with a lot of talk about how men and women interrelate. It's typical English humor, with misunderstandings and cruel laughs. It's certainly worth the approximately 15 minutes it's on screen, but to go on much longer would be wearing.
4 Reviews
Amusing short that plays well with an awkward and over-thought modern romance
bob the moo28 November 2007
Kevin uses a friends' phone to call a girl he just met and hangs up in confusion when the phone recognises the number. He knows he has to ring back and decides to use his own phone so he can deny all knowledge of the first call. However, the reason Julian's phone knew the number was that he also used to go out with Amanda. Kevin's second call goes well but the original mistake resurrects some old feelings.
Having watched 2007's Rubbish with Freeman and Lance, I moved along to this earlier film featuring them both. Free of political purpose, Call Register is a much smarter and enjoyable little film which, like another reviewer has already said is a little bit like a scenario out of modern relationship comedy Coupling. Fans of that show will enjoy this short film I'm not a regular viewing of Coupling but the humour is fun and it is echoed here. The comedy is very much about misunderstandings and over-thinking, both staples of Coupling and similar modern situation comedies, and it does work pretty well. OK so you can see what is coming before it gets to the screen but it is still good enough for what it is trying to do.
The manner of delivery helps it by giving it a natural air with the cast delivering the lines well. Roe's direction is good, with confined locations being used with split screens to keep the characters tightly in focus without much to distract the viewer thus holding the audience within the film and not giving room to question or debate. The actors are good but it is Lance and Freeman who are the strongest thanks to the material. Freeman is well practised at his awkward reality and he does it well again here, Lance plays off this well as a straighter of the two. McIntosh is more of a device than a character but she does what she needs to do to make the film work.
Overall then an amusing if unremarkable short film that plays well with the humour of the awkward and over-thought modern romance. Fans of Coupling will enjoy it for what it is.
Having watched 2007's Rubbish with Freeman and Lance, I moved along to this earlier film featuring them both. Free of political purpose, Call Register is a much smarter and enjoyable little film which, like another reviewer has already said is a little bit like a scenario out of modern relationship comedy Coupling. Fans of that show will enjoy this short film I'm not a regular viewing of Coupling but the humour is fun and it is echoed here. The comedy is very much about misunderstandings and over-thinking, both staples of Coupling and similar modern situation comedies, and it does work pretty well. OK so you can see what is coming before it gets to the screen but it is still good enough for what it is trying to do.
The manner of delivery helps it by giving it a natural air with the cast delivering the lines well. Roe's direction is good, with confined locations being used with split screens to keep the characters tightly in focus without much to distract the viewer thus holding the audience within the film and not giving room to question or debate. The actors are good but it is Lance and Freeman who are the strongest thanks to the material. Freeman is well practised at his awkward reality and he does it well again here, Lance plays off this well as a straighter of the two. McIntosh is more of a device than a character but she does what she needs to do to make the film work.
Overall then an amusing if unremarkable short film that plays well with the humour of the awkward and over-thought modern romance. Fans of Coupling will enjoy it for what it is.
Very Funny and Insightful... and that's "Caller ID" for the Americans
TimeNTide25 July 2008
I've seen this little short on the Sundance Channel in the US a couple of times, and it's very funny and insightful, and certainly well worth 13 minutes of your time.
And if you're an American, think of the title as "Caller ID". This short takes place in the UK, and apparently over there they call the service which identifies phone numbers "Call Register".
I won't go into detail on the plot since I've submitted a plot outline and summary for this short. The whole short shows the two male friends sitting together on couch talking, and then a split screen appears when there's a phone call between one of them and the girl. So... the film is all dialogue, but what great dialogue! In a short amount of time, this film manages to touch on quite a number of nerves about feelings which deal with asking for dates, friendship, relationships, and the mechanics of it all in the age of cell/mobile phones and caller ID. The triumphant feeling a guy has when the girl says yes, the sour grapes feeling when she says no, the awkward feeling of dating someone your friend has dated, the mixed feelings associated with previous relationships, the insecure feeling caused by having a better looking friend or trying to date an attractive girl, the gloating feeling when outdoing someone superior to yourself, and the overthinking associated with all these feelings are seen here.
And as for the phone mechanics, we see much of the modern nonsense like not wanting to use caller ID block because it makes you look like a stalker or solicitor, wanting the option to call and hang up but using a different phone so that you aren't identified as the person who did it, lying about calling and hanging up, lying about "accidently" dialing a number, not deleting an ex's number from your phone, or deleting it but using your handwritten phonebook to look up who called, etc. Ugh... reminds me that I wish I had lived before the age of telephones.
Overall... quite funny and painful at the same time. If you've ever been the awkward average guy calling a guy for a date (and I have), then this short is for you.
And if you're an American, think of the title as "Caller ID". This short takes place in the UK, and apparently over there they call the service which identifies phone numbers "Call Register".
I won't go into detail on the plot since I've submitted a plot outline and summary for this short. The whole short shows the two male friends sitting together on couch talking, and then a split screen appears when there's a phone call between one of them and the girl. So... the film is all dialogue, but what great dialogue! In a short amount of time, this film manages to touch on quite a number of nerves about feelings which deal with asking for dates, friendship, relationships, and the mechanics of it all in the age of cell/mobile phones and caller ID. The triumphant feeling a guy has when the girl says yes, the sour grapes feeling when she says no, the awkward feeling of dating someone your friend has dated, the mixed feelings associated with previous relationships, the insecure feeling caused by having a better looking friend or trying to date an attractive girl, the gloating feeling when outdoing someone superior to yourself, and the overthinking associated with all these feelings are seen here.
And as for the phone mechanics, we see much of the modern nonsense like not wanting to use caller ID block because it makes you look like a stalker or solicitor, wanting the option to call and hang up but using a different phone so that you aren't identified as the person who did it, lying about calling and hanging up, lying about "accidently" dialing a number, not deleting an ex's number from your phone, or deleting it but using your handwritten phonebook to look up who called, etc. Ugh... reminds me that I wish I had lived before the age of telephones.
Overall... quite funny and painful at the same time. If you've ever been the awkward average guy calling a guy for a date (and I have), then this short is for you.
Freeman's restlessly endearing performance stirs a buzzing sensation on one's consciousness.
aarosedi28 October 2018
Martin Freeman, well known at the time this short film was made for his work in The Office U.K. as Tim Canterbury, sort of a foil to David Brent's (Ricky Gervais) delightfully gauche boss, was given here a chance to flex his acting chops in a story revolves around the technological advance in modern comms called caller-ID/call-register, a thing now taken for granted almost two decades on. Freeman plays Kevin, a bit of a charming slacker-type, who seen with his buddy Julian, played by James Lance, who gets to be the film's designated straight-laced no-nonsense character where the interaction between the two actors was a joy to watch, and then when Neve McIntosh's character Amanda was dragged into in the fray, the result, a short film that's crawling with cringe-comedy components.
The perils of overthinking simple situations devolving into such a huge mess that comes back to haunt someone, in this case, that would be Kevin, and such has always been a successful trope in comedies, and Freeman's superbly brilliant subtle characterization was what kind of compelled me to just "drop by" and express my appreciation for this one.
My rating: B-plus.
The perils of overthinking simple situations devolving into such a huge mess that comes back to haunt someone, in this case, that would be Kevin, and such has always been a successful trope in comedies, and Freeman's superbly brilliant subtle characterization was what kind of compelled me to just "drop by" and express my appreciation for this one.
My rating: B-plus.
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