For Vince Vaughn, this is a narrative inversion from Return to Paradise. In that film, he was living under the pressure of an authority figure’s obscene deadline, forced to choose whether to risk his life to save another person. In The Cell, he’s the authority figure who gives a similar deadline and choice to someone else — in this case, Jennifer Lopez’s character, who’s the only one who can save the final victim of a deranged serial killer by entering the killer’s mind. (In both movies, Vaughn makes out with the other person in question too.)

Likely no one else would notice this. Likely you do not care about this! But there it is nonetheless. (The rest: Very imaginative imagery, very silly story.)