Can You Hear Me Now?

I've long said that nothing would destroy old movie plots more than the introduction of the cell phone.  How many horror films, where people are locked in an old dark house with the electricity cut, wouldn't work any more?

Another older film that couldn't work with today's technology is The Big Picture (1989).  I recently rewatched it.  Not a major film, perhaps, but an enjoyable comedy by Christopher Guest starring Kevin Bacon about a young filmmaker named Nick Chapman trying to break into Hollywood.

First Nick is hot, then he's cold.  It looks like he won't make it, but a simple thing happens to save him.  Someone important wants to talk to him but he and his girlfriend have decided to drive out to the desert that day so Nick is unavailable.  Word spreads he can't be reached, and there's nothing Hollywood likes more than something they can't have.  By the time Nick returns, he's the hottest thing in town.

If Nick had a cell phone, his career would have stayed cold. Let that be a lesson.