The Landline Detective

...but the production values and the dialogue are strictly amateur hour. If it weren't for the likeability factor of the sole on screen performer, this would be one of the worst films ever made. If you can get past the first 15 or 20 minutes, it might grow on you. But the technical drawbacks...the pauses...the overly loud voices on the phone and the incredibly childish dialogue all have to be overlooked.

Considering the entire movie consists of one single man in the same room; most of the time sitting in the same chair, talking on the phone you'd think it would be boring. Not at all! Jimmy is sorting through old family photos so they can finally be put into albums. Something which he and wife have meant to do for years. He's decided while his wife is on vacation with friends, he'll do it. While he's going through the pictures to put them in chronological order, he comes across a Polaroid that puzzles him. After calling his daughter, who'd taken the picture as a child 35 years ago, he begins to realize that the seemingly innocuous photo holds a clue to the still unsolved murder of his sister-in-law. He starts calling people to try to put the pieces together and figure out what happened.

This was very enjoyable, it was like an audio book with visuals. A good little mystery about an older man who is not into cell phones, iPads or computers.

If you appreciate excellent acting, imagine an entire movie with only one actor. A movie that holds your attention because of that 1 actor's ability and well-written dialogue. Oh sure, there are other voice actors, but the one on-screen actor holds this story together. You are forced to imagine the scenes, just like reading a good book. I was so impressed!

Action-packed murder mystery depicted by one actor, his landline telephone and an ensemble of voice-over actors for 15 other plot characters. As the main character gets involved in the home project of organizing a large collection of family pictures, one photo in particular stands out as being relevant to the 30-year old murder of a family member. The film pulls on your imagination to visualize the developing story in much the same way a good mystery book does.