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Poster for Denise Calls Up

Denise Calls Up

A hilarious heart-ringing fable about life, love and hangups.

1995 · 1h 20m · PG-13 Comedy
Directed by Hal Salwen

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Overview

A group of friends in New York, working away at their PCs and laptops, keep in touch exclusively by phone and fax. They are all too busy to meet face to face. Gale plays matchmaker, by phone, to Jerry and Barbara who, in turn, hit it off beautifully – via phone and fax. Martin gets a telephone call from someone he's never met. It's Denise, with some extraordinary news. Tapping away at his computer all the while, he develops a sort of friendship with Denise – via phone. And so it goes as the friends, tap, tap, tapping away, share news, hopes, and dreams – via phone and fax. Finally Gale has an unfortunate encounter with a phone, Denise has some more news for Martin, and Frank plans a gala New Year's Eve party, but will he answer the door?

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
77%
Tomatometer
Fresh

A minor but quirkily charming comedy about alientaion, love, and folly that reflects the zeitgeist in terms of AIDS and modern technology.

Emanuel Levy, Variety
Fresh

Salwen has captured and properly identified a very particular modern American species. His emergence as a filmmaker is a true event.

Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Fresh

At only 80 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome, but slight though it may be, it knows how to create constant smiles.

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Rotten

It's hard to care about a movie story in which the characters never meet one another or really care about one another.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh

After a while, besides enjoying the stories as such, we begin to enjoy the film's trickiness, almost all on the phone, as a sort of high-wire act.

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic

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