In 2003, young Craig Poole becomes acquainted with retired businessman John Harrigan following the death of his mother, Joanna, with instructions to simply read to him three times a week.
Later that night, Craig calls Harrigan's phone in a fit of frustration and sadness; he tells him what Kenny did and he is "afraid that this won't end, and I wish that you were here just to give me some advice."
While there, his father calls to tell him Ms. Hart was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver, leaving her fiancé hospitalized.
The driver, Dean Whitmore, is sent to rehab instead of prison for the accident although he'd been caught for drunk driving on other occasions, his license was suspended and he had an open container.
Craig is disturbed to learn that the soap is the same brand used by Ms. Hart, and Whitmore's suicide note is actually a lyric from the song "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette; Harrigan's ringtone.
The website's consensus reads: "Despite a pair of layered performances from its talented leads, Mr. Harrigan's Phone never quite connects with the source material's intriguing themes.
[9] In Common Sense Media, Brian Costello gave it a rating of four out of five, saying that "viewers might expect a horror-thriller, but this is more of a coming-of-age story about the perils of revenge and a reflection on how we've changed since the arrival of the smartphone.
"[10] In The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck said that "unfortunately, despite its intriguing premise, Mr. Harrigan's Phone lacks the necessary ingredient to make it truly memorable; it simply isn't very scary.
"[13] On CinemaBlend,[12] Eric Eisenberg gave it two out of five stars, saying that "it's a dull and lagging feature that tries to be both a coming-of-age drama and a supernatural horror film, and it ends up failing to make an emotional impact with either genre.
"[14] Writing in The Guardian, Benjamin Lee also gave the film two out of five stars, calling it "...a competently made yet utterly inconsequential pre-Halloween time-waster.