LONDON: If there’s a feeling of d?j? vu about “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” it’s probably because it stars Jaeden Martell as a complicated, sometimes-troubled young man in an adaptation of a Stephen King story — Martell played Bill Denbrough in the 2017 and 2019 big-screen versions of King’s iconic “It,” the success of which presumably played some part in Netflix’s decision to back this supernatural-thriller-meets-coming-of-age drama mashup.
In “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” Martell is Craig, a young man who befriends the titular billionaire as the two bond over a love of classic books. Harrigan (played with understated ambiguity by Donald Sutherland) eschews all modern technologies until Craig gifts him his first cell phone and teaches him to use it. When Harrigan’s failing health catches up with him, he is buried with the phone he grew to love, and Craig assuages his grief by leaving him voicemails. But when he begins to use those messages to complain about the bullies tormenting him at school, and other injustices he sees in the world around him, Craig begins to suspect that Harrigan is visiting retribution on behalf of his young friend, from beyond the grave.
Sadly, that same feeling of d?j? vu results from the fact that “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” is yet another uninspiring adaptation of one of King’s lesser known (for good reason) stories. It has that same small-town-beset-by-mysterious-forces feel that typifies some of King’s better shorts, but it lacks any sense of purpose, or clear identity — something even more baffling considering it’s written and helmed by “The Blind Side” director John Lee Hancock.
Martell’s troubled teen is too mewling and too contrived to feel genuine, and a half-hearted attempt to posit the film as a commentary on technological overreliance is abandoned without any real effort. Sutherland seems to enjoy himself for the 30 minutes he’s in the movie, but “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” isn’t pacy or clever enough to be a gripping thriller, and it simply isn’t scary enough to be a horror. It’s hard to know exactly what this film was supposed to be, other than a Halloween cash-in, perhaps.