Fresh
A minor but quirkily charming comedy about alientaion, love, and folly that reflects the zeitgeist in terms of AIDS and modern technology.
Emanuel Levy, Variety
Denise Calls Up
A hilarious heart-ringing fable about life, love and hangups.
1995 · 1h 20m · PG-13
Comedy
Directed by
Hal Salwen
Overview
A group of friends in New York, working away at their PCs and laptops, keep in touch exclusively by phone and fax. They are all too busy to meet face to face. Gale plays matchmaker, by phone, to Jerry and Barbara who, in turn, hit it off beautifully – via phone and fax. Martin gets a telephone call from someone he's never met. It's Denise, with some extraordinary news. Tapping away at his computer all the while, he develops a sort of friendship with Denise – via phone. And so it goes as the friends, tap, tap, tapping away, share news, hopes, and dreams – via phone and fax. Finally Gale has an unfortunate encounter with a phone, Denise has some more news for Martin, and Frank plans a gala New Year's Eve party, but will he answer the door?
Director and cast
- Hal Salwen Director
- Tim Daly as Frank Oliver
- Caroleen Feeney as Barbara Gorton
- Dan Gunther as Martin Weiner
- Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gail Donelly
- Liev Schreiber as Jerry Heckerman
- Aida Turturro as Linda
- Alanna Ubach as Denise Devaro
- Sylvia Miles as Sharon, Gail's Aunt
- Mark Blum as Obstretrician
- Jean-Claude La Marre as Cab Driver
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
71%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Salwen has captured and properly identified a very particular modern American species. His emergence as a filmmaker is a true event.
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Fresh
At only 80 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome, but slight though it may be, it knows how to create constant smiles.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Rotten
It's hard to care about a movie story in which the characters never meet one another or really care about one another.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
After a while, besides enjoying the stories as such, we begin to enjoy the film's trickiness, almost all on the phone, as a sort of high-wire act.
Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
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