Buried

A civilian contractor in Iraq (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up buried in a wooden coffin, with only a cigarette lighter and a failing cell phone to help figure out why he’s there and how to get help. The movie never leaves that box, so it’s a one-man show for Reynolds, and he delivers well under Rodrigo Cortés’ direction (with help from José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samantha Mathis and Warner Loughlin as various voices on the phone). Chris Sparling’s script takes place in 2006 (was it written then?), so perhaps he intended it as a pointed comment on the war—but it’s actually just a clever topical adaptation on the old Lucille Fletcher radio drama (and Barbara Stanwyck movie) Sorry, Wrong Number; Sparling even wraps things up with a variation on Fletcher’s classic last line.