Starring Kim Basinger and Chris Evans. Rated PG.

The first five minutes of this film are God-awful, but after that Cellular rapidly evolves into a reasonably taut, relatively intelligent, and moderately entertaining thriller. It is also, surprisingly, the first feature to make full dramatic use of the world's most popular communications device.

I say surprisingly because the telephone has long been an instrument of on-screen suspense. Starting with Sorry, Wrong Number, melodramas have often started with innocent parties receiving dangerous information thanks to crossed wires. Hollywood policemen are forever trying to catch psychos by tracing their calls, and wide-screen home invasions are usually preceded by the ritualistic cutting of telephone wires.

Cellphones, too, have figured in films for quite some time, but their repertoire has usually been limited to tunnel blackouts and battery failures.

Both of those problems figure prominently in Cellular, but the phone lore doesn't stop there. Ryan (Chris Evans), the beach-buff hero of the piece, must use the whole range of mobile technology in order to save high-school science teacher Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger) from a bunch of bad-ass kidnappers. (Just think of the product-placement possibilities!)

Of course, the film isn't all about phones. If screenwriter Chris Morgan can't write dialogue to save his life, he is fairly good at creating suspenseful situations, and director David R. Ellis is quite skillful at blocking them. Survival, in this story, is a collective effort, with Jessica's science savvy coming in handy at times and much necessary intervention being provided by Sgt. Mooney (William H. Macy), a 27-year veteran of the LAPD who suffers endless ribbing from his macho colleagues on account of his decision to retire and open a "day spa" to be managed by his wife.

Cellular, neither a must-see nor a must-avoid, is a painless way to kill a couple of hours of uncommitted time.