Denise Calls Up

Thanks to the technological marvels of wireless phones, answering machines, the internet, and e-mail, it is no longer necessary actually to see anyone you know, and seven friends have taken this notion to its logical extreme in this comedy. Linda (Aida Turturro) throws a birthday party and to her ...more

A one-joke movie that works (in part because of its modest length), Denise Calls Up understands how young urbanites hide beyond semi-anonymous communication, mainly the telephone. (It's possible to see this as a wittier precursor to You've Got Mail.) Thanks to call waiting and conference calls, it's also possible to set up a small community of faceless friends, but the key is not to show up in person, whether for a lunch date or a party (the film is bookended by two of the latter). In this ...more