'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' A Review

 Mr. Harrigan's Phone is a coming-of-age thriller, an adaptation of a Stephen King novella. Set in the mid oughts, about small town Maine kid Craig(Jaeden Martell) who begins to work for mysterious rich recluse Mr. Harrigan(Donald Sutherland) by doing odd jobs around the house but mostly reading aloud to him due to his failing eyesight. Craig gets an iPhone 1 and then later gifts one to Mr. Harrigan who is initially skeptical but becomes enthralled. 

Martell continues to build a solid career(IT, Knives Out, Metal Lords), he has a naturalism and confidence on screen that is beyond his years that's not precious or precocious just sincere. He has somewhat of a difficult job here, balancing interiority with the not insignificant amount of plot, but he balances it well. It's always a treat to see Sutherland as he's getting up there and he may play it a bit too dour here but he and Martell have nice chemistry and the scenes between the two of them are some of the most compelling of the movie. Kirby Howell-Baptiste is wonderful to see, a breath of vitality and energy, but the part is limited. A nice surprise is Cyrus Arnold as the bully Kenny, who upends the archetype a bit by playing him very emotionally raw, very obviously troubled, rather than an aggro meathead.

Crisp visuals, real New England locations, an effective if somewhat forgettable soundtrack make for an all around competent production design, if not particularly inspired. There's a balance with any adaptation to be faithful to the source material but also inject some personal electricity. Here it works but it doesn't soar. The source material is lean on the supernatural and scares and is more about the characters and morality. In order to tip the scales, for the spooky season seemingly, the movie tries to heighten the horror not particularly successfully so it has, I think unintentionally, a little bit of that Ryan Murphy camp gloss.

Simple cozy fun if not a homerun.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Rent It.