Jump to content

Mr. Harrigan's Phone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Siatico (talk | contribs) at 16:09, 8 October 2022 ("Carl Zohan" is not included in the main credits of the film, why add him?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Promotional release poster
Directed byJohn Lee Hancock
Written byJohn Lee Hancock
Based on"Mr. Harrigan's Phone"
by Stephen King
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Schwartzman
Edited byRobert Frazen
Music byJavier Navarrete
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • October 5, 2022 (2022-10-05)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Mr. Harrigan's Phone is an American teen horror drama film written and directed by John Lee Hancock.[1][2] It is based on the novella of the same name by Stephen King from the collection If It Bleeds. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett and Kirby Howell-Baptiste.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone was released on October 5, 2022, by Netflix. The film received mixed reviews.

Plot

Craig becomes acquainted with retired businessman Mr. Harrigan following the death of his mother, with instructions to simply read to him three times a week. As the years go on, Craig and Harrigan become fast friends, despite Harrigan showing some anti-social tendencies. During this time, Craig starts high school and becomes relatively close to his teacher Ms. Hart, who comes to his aid when Kenny, a school bully, attempts to intimidate him. After winning $3,000.00 from a lottery ticket that Harrigan gave him and receiving his first iPhone for Christmas, Craig buys Harrigan one too, despite Harrigan first showing resistance to new technology.

Harrigan dies unexpectedly, leaving Craig rather broken at the loss of his old friend. At the funeral, Craig sneaks Harrigan's phone into his suit. He is then informed by Harrigan's associates that he was left a bequest in Harrigan's will and will receive $800,000 in his trust fund, knowing Craig wanted to go to college and be a writer. Craig calls Harrigan's phone as a small gesture of thanks and regret. However, the next morning he finds out Harrigan sent him an odd text message. His father chalks it up to it being a bug within the iPhone itself.

Craig attempts to move on with his life, going to a dance with a crush of his, only for the night to be ruined by Kenny, who accuses Craig of getting him expelled from school for selling drugs. After being taken home, Craig calls Harrigan's phone in a fit of frustration and sadness and tells him he wants Kenny to "get what he deserves." Kenny is found dead the next day; allegedly, he fell from his bedroom window attempting to sneak out. Scared by what happened, Craig goes to an Apple store, upgrades his phone to a newer model, and hides his old one.

Craig eventually graduates from high school and goes off to college in Boston, preparing to study journalism. Midway through, however, his father calls him to tell him Ms. Hart was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver, leaving her fiancé hospitalized. The driver, Dean Whitmore, isn't charged for the accident and instead sent to rehab. Infuriated by it, Craig returns to his room and uses his old phone to call Harrigan, wishing death on Whitmore. After some time, Craig learns Whitmore was found dead in his shower. He drives to the rehab center and bribes a worker there to get more details about the suicide, revealing that Whitmore swallowed shampoo and shoved a piece of broken soap bar, the same soap used by Ms. Hart, in his mouth before leaving a suicide note, which Craig notices is actually the lyrics to the song "Stand by Your Man” by Tammy Wynette; Harrigan's ringtone.

Craig breaks down and returns to his hometown. From there, he sees Harrigan's "secret closet" (which Harrigan refused to let Craig enter) was actually a shrine to his deceased mother and visits Harrigan's grave, apologizing for what he did and even theorizing that Harrigan's odd text messages to him are begging Craig to let him rest. As he leaves Harrigan's grave, Craig visits his mother's grave and collapses into tears, begging for forgiveness. Craig then rushes to the town quarry, first intent to commit suicide, before deciding to throw his old phone into the river. The film ends with Craig walking away, before quietly narrating that when he passes on and is buried, he wants his pockets to be empty.

Cast

  • Jaeden Martell as Craig
    • Colin O'Brien as young Craig
  • Donald Sutherland as Mr. Harrigan
  • Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Ms. Hart
  • Joe Tippett as Craig's father
  • Cyrus Arnold as Kenny Yankovich
  • Carl Zohan as Funeral Goer
  • Iván Amaro Bullón as Sheriff Deputy
  • Josie Axelson as Popular High School Student
  • Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz as Craig's mother
  • Thalia Torio as Regina
  • Thomas Francis Murphy as Pete
  • Caitlin Shorey as Margie
  • Alex Bartner as Clerk
  • Peggy J. Scott as Edna Grogan
  • Gregory Jensen as Wallstreet #1
  • Daniel Reece as Deane Whitmore

Production

In July 2020, Netflix acquired the film rights to "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", to be produced by Blumhouse Productions and Ryan Murphy and with John Lee Hancock writing and directing the film.[3][4] In October 2021, Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell,[5] Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Joe Tippett joined the cast.[6][7] Principal photography started in Connecticut on October 20, 2021, and wrapped on December 22, 2021.[4]

Release

The film was released on October 5, 2022 by Netflix.[8]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 41% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Despite a pair of layered performances from its talented leads, Mr. Harrigan's Phone never quite connects with the source material's intriguing themes."[9]

In Common Sense Media, Brian Costello gave it a 4/5 rating saying that "viewers might expect a horror-thriller, but this is more of a coming-of-age story about the perils of revenge and a reflection on how we've changed since the arrival of the smartphone."[10] In The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck said that "unfortunately, despite its intriguing premise, Mr. Harrigan's Phone lacks the necessary ingredient to make it truly memorable; it simply isn't very scary."[11]

In the Arizona Republic,[12] Bill Goodykoontz gave it a 4/5 rating saying that "as with the greatest King stories, the best parts here are not the horror elements (of which there are few). It's the time spent with the characters."[13]

On CinemaBlend[12], Eric Eisenberg gave it a 2/5 rating saying that "its a dull and lagging feature that tries to be both a coming-of-age drama and a supernatural horror film, and it ends up failing to make an emotional impact with either genre."[14] Writing in The Guardian, Benjamin Lee also gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, calling it "...a competently made yet utterly inconsequential pre-Halloween time-waster."[15] On IGN, Ryan Leston said, "what’s worse is that this potentially terrifying tale does almost nothing of any horror value throughout its overly long runtime. There are no jump scares, no dream sequences, no monsters, no gore, or anything remotely resembling a hefty-enough scare to warrant calling this a horror film."[2]

References

  1. ^ "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Netflix. Retrieved 8 October 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b "Mr. Harrigan's Phone Review". IGN. Retrieved 8 October 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 10, 2020). "Stephen King Novella 'If It Bleeds' Draws Movie Deals From Netflix & John Lee Hancock/Jason Blum/Ryan Murphy, Two Others From Ben Stiller And Darren Aronofsky". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on April 8, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  5. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 1, 2021). "'Mr. Harrigan's Phone': Donald Sutherland & Jaeden Martell To Star In Netflix Blumhouse Movie – BlumFest". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  6. ^ Grobar, Matt (October 25, 2021). "'Mr. Harrigan's Phone': Joe Tippett Joins John Lee Hancock's Netflix Film Based On Stephen King Short Story". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Grobar, Matt (October 27, 2021). "'Mr. Harrigan's Phone': Kirby Howell-Baptiste Joins John Lee Hancock's Netflix Film Based On Stephen King Short Story". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  8. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 30, 2022). "Netflix Fall & Holiday Film Slate Includes Release Dates For Bardo, The Pale Blue Eye, Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical & More – Full List". Deadline Hollywood.
  9. ^ "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  10. ^ "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  11. ^ "«'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' Review: Donald Sutherland in a Netflix Stephen King Adaptation That Lacks Chills". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  12. ^ a b "All Critics Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Netflix's 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone,' based on a Stephen King story, is a call worth taking". AzCentral. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Netflix's Mr. Harrigan's Phone Review: A Faithful Stephen King Adaptation That Struggles To Translate Into A Movie". CinemaBlend. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  15. ^ Lee, Benjamin (October 5, 2022). "Mr Harrigan's Phone review – minor Stephen King gets minor Netflix treatment". The Guardian.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mr._Harrigan%27s_Phone&oldid=1114850891"