^ Phoned - in ^

Posted by ESC on July 13, 2004

In Reply to: ^ Phoned - in ^ posted by ESC on July 12, 2004

: : : Hi, can you tell me the context of PHONED-IN in:
: : : "Under Peter's phoned-in direction the movie chugs along like a slow train"

: :
: : It sounds like the director either wasn't physically on the set or was there but wasn't paying attention. I think it means that the direction was only correct up to a point and lacked the specificity to be really effective.

: "Phoning in" a performance or direction means the person wasn't putting forth much effort.

Example from the Web:

"Of course, J.K. Rowling could vow to stop writing tomorrow, and she'd still make oodles and oodles of money off of this book, but since there's oodles and oodles of more money to be made off of the final two books, odds are she won't. But, since she didn't phone it in after three years and a delay in between novels, it's a safe bet that books six and seven of the Potter series will deliver, and bring this phenomenon to a close."