Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé: Telephone (2010 Music Video) User Reviews

A long, quirky and risqué music video

[Stompgal_87 · 8/10 · 11 April 2014]

When I was looking at Beyoncé's profile here on IMDb shortly after watching her intriguing documentary 'Life Is But A Dream,' I was surprised to see this listed in her filmography as well as IMDb referring to it as a short movie. Technically I have always perceived it as a long music video and while quirky and risqué, especially Beyoncé and Lady Gaga killing diner guests by poisoning them, this is one of Gaga's best videos.

Not only did I like this video but I also like the song. The video has a cinematic look throughout, particularly the opening titles leading up to Gaga being thrown in jail (probably a connection to her killing a man towards the end of her 'Paparazzi' video) and it is also colourful for the most part. The outfits worn by Gaga and Beyoncé are bright and bold while GaGa's costumes and hairstyles are as bizarre as always, particularly the cigarettes and Diet Coke cans in her hair and the telephone hat on her head - very fitting for the video and the song. I think IMDb regarded this video as a short film due to its pretty minimal use of dialogue as well as its length.

All in all this is the longest music video I've seen since the one for Gwen Stefani's 'What You Waiting For?' with risqué moments, a plot reminiscent of that for 'Pulp Fiction (despite not seeing that film)' and some quirky yet colourful costumes. 8/10.

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[gabrieldunham · 9/10 · 3 February 2023]

Lady Gaga's decision to team up with Beyoncé was a good one. The way their vocals mix together to make perfection IS perfection! 💕 Telephone is my favorite song from The Fame Monster by far. And that's just the audio. This music video was clever with Gaga dressed up in Coke cans, caution tape and cigarettes, while Queen B is outfitted in blue and gold. The story line is cool too. It seems like Lady Gaga and Beyoncé are bounty hunters of some sort and they kill all of the ex's who betrayed them. While this song only has a Metascore of 71, it deserves at least a 90. I adored Gaga in this era. I wish she would perform it live. Definitely a Pop Culture Icon.

all that coughing, how off-putting!

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 7/10 · 10 December 2016]

The follow-up to Lady Gaga's PAPARAZZI, in which she killed her husband and got arrested, which is shown in a back-flash on the news broadcast. Yet another round of poisoning, yet another trademark man-kill for Lady Gaga.

This has got to be the only music video that features coughing. And unusual as this music video is, with the song only heard sporadically, it's really just the last straw. There is a whole lot of other stuff wrong with it, but that coughing is the nail in its coffin. Okay, so there are versions, one features nudity, the inmates prancing about are naked; the other is the cleaned-up version, the inmates prancing about wear designer lingerie. Yeah, that is some fun jail block. Bottom line is that I won't give it a low score after all those on-screen antics, but like it as a whole? No. Beyoncé appears to be made of plastic, and all those grungy fashion paraphernalia only serves to make it an oddity. This is total trash, not only is it trash, it is Trash, TRASH, but it is also bling-laden TRA$H with a certain appeal, and the cute THELMA & LOUISE spoof it began turning into, was really the best bit. The gritty-looking jail cell and prison yard sequences I found very unappealing, but they are total Lady Gaga territory, let them stand. But I want to chase that Tyrese Gibson off the screen the moment you see his dull dumb face, and then those fake forced coughing, yuck, in a music video? It's so offensive, so out, so low-class, so ruining the fun, how could they?

Total style overkill. Perhaps a thousand things wrong with it. But worth watching for sure.

Iconic

[injury-65447 · 10/10 · 27 January 2021]

One of the most memorable pop music videos ever made. It transcended the medium.

Completely off the mark

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 17 October 2014]

Back in 2010, Lady Gaga and Beyonce were among the most admired pop musicians (well they probably still are), so a duet of the two should amount into something great, shouldn't it? Well, it didn't. The lyrics here are a complete joke and neither Beyoncé's spectacular voice nor Gagas talent for catchy tunes come to light here. The final result is really not great at all. The song, which starts shortly before the three-minute-mark, is generic and nothing special.

Ralking about the video, it was directed, just like "Paparazzi" by Swede Jonas Åkerlund who worked with Smashing Pumpkins and U2 among other in the past. He and Gaga also co-wrote the song. Early on, we see Gaga brought to jail in a zebra-like dress, where she makes fun of the rumors that she was man actually, makes out with another female inmate and wears truly smokin' glasses. Afterward, she is bailed out by Beyoncé, who proceeds to kill her man (Tyrese Gibson from "Fast&Furious" and "Transformers") just like Gaga did in "Paparazzi". Afterwards the two escape. Åkerlund and Gaga should be ashamed for the "very very bad girl" comment, for the "pussy wagon" and the "make a sandwich" quote. This video is a mess, as is the song, a definite contender for worst career effort for pretty much everybody involved.