MovieChat Forums > Joy Ride (2001) Discussion > 2001 and not a single cell phone

2001 and not a single cell phone

posted 11 years ago by mobstar1967
22 replies | jump to latest

i just watched this and noticed that there was not a single cell phone in this entire film..
Cell phones were in wide spread use for years already by 2001..
I'm guessing that the characters running around with cell phones in this film would of ruined the continuity of this film since the problem revolves around CB radios..The characters relied on making it to gas station payphones instead of a flip phone or mid to large size handheld which would of been appropriate for the time..
even though it does not match up with the time period it's kind of a breath of fresh air now 13 years later all the cell phone horror/thriller cliches such as not getting a signal or showing no bars or depleted battery..Today all of those scenario's are overdone to the extreme...

[–] wolfmansgotnards11 11 years ago

It's 'would have' . Not 'would of'.

[–] mobstar1967 11 years ago

really ?

[–] wolfmansgotnards11 11 years ago

Yes. I notice that a lot of people are replacing "have" with "of". I bugs the hell out of me.

[–] thewildfire 9 years ago

"I bugs the hell out of me" - for a grammar nazi, you sure botched that up! People like you bug the crap out of me, but I do get a laugh when u have to eat your own words.

[–] Neptunechild87 11 years ago

well in all fairness we dont know what year the film actually takes place. and in 2001 i knew a few people that didnt own cell phones.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] ReelRocknRolla 10 years ago

The film came out in 2001 but the story contained within, is set in 1999.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] kassandra227 10 years ago

i'm thinking that the reception in more rural areas of say Utah and Wyoming wasn't all that great, so that having a cell phone in those areas probably wasn't as widespread in cities and more rural areas. also, there were fewer family plans then, so it's not like every 8 year old had a phone of their own. think it's more than realistic for the characters in this film not to have cell phones.

"I married a witch ... cool" - Ichabod Crane

[–] jonathanstatsny 10 years ago

Yeah, there were a lot of people who didn't have cell phones in 2001. This is 13 years ago. For starters, the one brother just got out of jail, he isn't going to have one. Paul Walker didn't have one and neither did Leelee's character. That's two people. Not a stretch at all.

[–] obtec2001 10 years ago

They could have stopped at your Winn Dixie and picked one up.

[–] shaye22 10 years ago

I didn't even own a cell phone in 2001, nor did a lot of people.

[–] Clockwork399 9 years ago

There were also pockets of time where they couldn't even stop along the road to use a payphone. I would say pay phones were far more easier to find in 2001. They were all over the place. Cell phones weren't yet. Now in 2015 that's reversed. It isn't hard to believe that three people - one that just got out of jail - don't have a cell phone in 2001. I'll admit it is getting to the border where it would start seeming weird, like say, if this was 2006, but 2001 it is still passable. Nowadays a movie like this only works if a cell phone is out of range or has its batteries die.

[–] tjm2005 9 years ago

It was realistic they didn't have cell phones. No one really had them then. I remember watching this movie when it first came out and I never once thought "why no cell phones?". It was completely accurate. I had my first cell phone in 2003 but it was so basic, you always forgot you had it and you couldnt do much on it. Cell phones didnt really get popularized until around 2006/2007/2008 or so. Thats when I remember EVERYONE and their mom having one.

[–] Dan_Garten 9 years ago

They were certainly around (and not just with rich people) in 2000/2001. By the mid-'00s, they were getting fairly common. Late '00s, virtually everyone owned a cellphone.

[–] cajunbluesbaby 9 years ago

I went to a very good school of 1500. I was 17 in 2001. MY school was Top 3 high school in my state with plenty of rich kids & I only knew one in high school that had a cell phone. My mom and a lot of the parents had car phones, but mostly adults had those not college kids. I knew some of the rich kids dads/moms who worked in this business world did but none of the kids. So this is accurate. I got my first cell phone in 2004, my 2nd semester of college. It was the basic dumb phone. Just called. No texting nor camera. So yeah this was accurate.

[–] Blubonnet_Spearman 9 years ago

Not everyone had them in 2001. Were you old enough back then to know?

[–] priestpilot 9 years ago

I got my first cellphone in 2007 when I was 19 years old. In my first year of university, I had a personal extension with a long distance plan at my dorm desk. And when I needed to use the phone in the city, I would use a payphone. I bought a cellphone when I got my first apartment because by that time, it was cheaper and much more practical than a landline.

[–] Burning_Sosobra 9 years ago

Like others have said, a lot of people still didn't have cellphones by '01, including myself - and I was old enough then to own one. I got my first cellphone in 2002 when I was 19, a year or two after this movie was made. I hardly knew anyone that had a cellphone my first year of college. So, again, it's by no means a stretch to believe all 3 main characters would be without a cellphone back in '00/'01 when this movie was made.

"Oh my God! You is becoming a werewilf!" -Werewolf

[–] MetalgearSldSnk 9 years ago

Cellphones were expensive and still are. Lewis was a poor college student and Fuller just got out of jail. Neither would have cellphones. It's more believable that they didn't have them.

[–] Dan_Garten 8 years ago

Also, this was filmed in 1999 to early 2000.