Denise Calls Up
Denise Calls Up | |
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Directed by | Hal Salwen |
Written by | Hal Salwen |
Produced by | J. Todd Harris |
Starring |
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Distributed by | Rastar Sony Pictures Classics |
Release dates |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Language | English |
Box office | $148,121[1] |
Denise Calls Up is a 1995
Plot
Linda wakes up one morning to her ringing phone. Her friend, Gale wants to know how her party went last night. To her dismay, Linda tells her that no one showed up, "not a one." Thus begins Denise Calls Up, the story of seven friends living in
Cast
- Tim Daly as Frank Oliver
- Caroleen Feeney as Barbara Gorton
- Dan Gunther as Martin Weiner
- Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gale Donelly
- Liev Schreiber as Jerry Heckerman
- Hal Salwen as young Jerry
- Aida Turturro as Linda
- Alanna Ubach as Denise Devaro
- Sylvia Miles as Sharon, Gale's Aunt
- Jean-Claude La Marre as Dalton Philips, cab driver (as Jean LaMarre)
- Mark Blum as Dr. Brennan, Obstetrician
Production
Hal Salwen allowed the actors to meet each other once before filming began, then had them shoot their phone scenes separately.[3]
Release
The film premiered at WorldFest-Houston in April 1995. It screened at the Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight that May[4][5] and played at Cinéfest Sudbury in September. It was given a limited theatrical release on March 29, 1996.[1]
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 74% rating based on 23 reviews.[6]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Salwen's storytelling gambit may sound like a stunt, but he does a remarkably agile job of sustaining it throughout a sunny 80-minute comedy."[7] The Washington Post was very positive, with Desson Thomson calling it "an amusing, soundbite-era satire about the dehumanizing link-up between deep human impulses (specifically love) and telephone/computer technology."[8] He added, "What's funniest about the movie is the way information ricochets from person to person, through a combination of speed-dialing, conference calling and call waiting."[8] Hal Hinson, also of The Post, called it a "stunning satire of yuppie life in Manhattan" and concluded "Salwen has captured and properly identified a very particular modern American species. His emergence as a filmmaker is a true event."[9]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of C, but said he enjoyed the characters of Jerry and Barbara.[10] In the San Francisco Examiner, Barbara Shulgasser said, "As witty as this film is, Salwen can't get around the fact that a movie about people who don't meet saddles a director with a lot of scenes focusing on one person talking to no one but a piece of machinery."[11] Roger Ebert said the film’s idea was too slight for a full-length feature.[12] In Variety, Emanuel Levy wrote, "At times, 'Denise Calls Up' feels like an overextended, one-joke movie, but the joke’s a good one."[13]
Awards
- Tied for Jury Prize at the Deauville American Film Festival with The Brothers McMullen[14]
References
- ^ a b "Denise Calls Up". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ "Crew - Denise Calls Up". Sony Pictures Classics. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012.
- ^ "Production Notes - Denise Calls Up". Sony Pictures Classics. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ a b "Denise Calls Up | Denise au téléphone". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ a b Feinstein, Howard. "Critics Week at Cannes". The Independent Film & Video Monthly. Vol. January/February 1996. p. 13. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ "Denise Calls Up (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (March 27, 1996). "FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW;Techno-Yuppies Who Live and Die by the Microchip". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Thomson, Desson (April 26, 1996). "Pick Up, 'Denise' Is Calling". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ Hinson, Hal (April 26, 1996). "'Denise Calls': Busy Signals". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 4, 1996). "Call girl films". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ Shulgasser, Barbara (April 19, 1996). "Phone friends don't connect during "Denise Calls Up"". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (April 26, 1996). "Denise Calls Up". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Levy, Emanuel (March 13, 1995). "Denise Calls Up". Variety.
- ^ "1995 | 21ème Festival du Cinéma Américain". Deauville American Film Festival. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2022.