Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

34 10,000 B.C.
48 21
47 27 Dresses
17 88 Minutes
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
55 Baby Mama
69 Bank Job, The
52 Be Kind Rewind
42 Bucket List, The
54 Charlie Bartlett
36 College Road Trip
31 Deception
51 Doomsday
41 Drillbit Taylor
29 Fool's Gold
57 Forbidden Kingdom, The
67 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
59 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
57 Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
71 Horton Hears a Who!
63 How She Move
78 Iron Man
35 Jumper
81 Juno
56 Leatherheads
41 Mad Money
37 Made of Honor
9 Meet the Spartans
48 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
39 Never Back Down
55 Nim's Island
50 Other Boleyn Girl, The
xx Rogue
44 Ruins, The
47 Semi-Pro
76 Shine a Light
37 Shutter
57 Smart People
37 Speed Racer
62 Spiderwick Chronicles, The
50 Step Up 2 the Streets
61 Stop Loss
55 Street Kings
33 Superhero Movie
92 There Will Be Blood
45 Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns
40 Vantage Point
36 What Happens in Vegas...

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
52 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
46 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Cat's Meow, The
Lions Gate Films Inc.


7.6

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexuality, a scene of violence and brief drug use

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cary Elwes, Edward Herrmann, Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley, Victor Slezak, Jennifer Tilly, and James Laurenson

An extraordinary look at a fateful excursion of "fun and frolic" aboard William Randolph Hearst's private yacht in November of 1924 that brought together some of the century's best known personalities and resulted in a still-unsolved, hushed-up killing. (Lions Gate Films)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Steven Peros (also play)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Bogdanovich
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 20, 2002 Video: August 20, 2002 Theatrical: April 12, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	112 minutes, B/W / Color
ORIGIN:	Canada / Germany / UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Elegant, funny and unexpectedly touching, this whodunit about a murder aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst represents a bracing comeback for Peter Bogdanovich.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

An elegant drama about power and its frightening uses, The Cat's Meow is the bee's knees.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Peter Bogdanovich taps deep into the Hearst mystique, entertainingly reenacting a historic scandal.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Relatively accurate as a period piece, looks great and boasts a bevy of vintage numbers, some original recordings and others performed in an authentic manner by Ian Whitcomb and His Bungalow Boys.

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

It's vastly enjoyable in a low-down, scandal-mongering way.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If it speaks with a quieter voice than many of Bogdanovich's early pictures, what it has to say seems substantially more personal and thoughtful.

Variety Derek Elley

Playful and sporty, with just a small twist of the knife, The Cat's Meow is good, uncomplicated fun.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The fact is no one has a better understanding of the corruption of ego and power, or is more qualified to encapsulate it in a defining moment of Hollywood Gothic.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Could have been -- and should have been -- richer and more resonant. It's Hollywood Babylon Lite, only TV movie-deep. But at least it's tangy.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Isn't quite good enough to elicit a purr, but it represents better-than-average movie-making that doesn't demand a dumb, distracted audience.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Bogdanovich takes a tale of old Hollywood and infuses it with velocity and enthusiasm.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Bogdanovich adds touches to appeal to serious film fans.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film is darkly atmospheric, with Herrmann quietly suggesting the sadness and obsession beneath Hearst's forced avuncular chortles. Dunst is as good, in her way, as Dorothy Comingore in "Citizen Kane" in showing a woman who is more loyal and affectionate than her lover deserves.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

If there were any justice in the world, The Cat's Meow would be the beginning of the rehabilitation of Davies' image.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A better-than-competent period evocation that allows the director to flaunt his knowledge (and perhaps vent some of his own bitterness) regarding Hollywood.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Faithfully recreates a bygone era of larger-than-life filmmakers and stars.

Slate David Edelstein

Bogdanovich has been so smooth and loving in his directorial attentions that he has forgotten to give the tragical farce proceedings any terrible momentum.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

A modest, restrained picture, as small and satisfying as one of Woody Allen's better recent efforts.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

But even if The Cat's Meow is unsubtle and overlong, in its jaundiced way it convincingly captures a fascinating period in Hollywood history.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The movie leaves us with the image of rich folks frantically dancing the Charleston because if they stop, they'll have nothing. The point is as untrue as it is simplistic.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The film is better on mood than on message, sharply etching the professional desperation behind the forced gaiety.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The result is good gossip, entertainingly delivered, yet with a distinctly musty odour, its expiry date long gone.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

For all its charms, sometimes feels as self-obsessed as the characters it slyly mocks.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Overall, the film feels a little stiff, perhaps because screenwriter Steven Peros adapted his own stage play. But the performances are a delight, especially Dunst's effervescent turn as Marion Davies.

Film Threat Merle Bertrand

While certainly an entertaining and intriguing film, one simply can't get past the notion that we're watching semi-famous actors pretending to be their more famous characters.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Swell when it purrs, when the three top stars are in full form, but it spits and hisses and screeches too often to take full hold.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Dunst makes Davies the most confident and interesting person aboard the Oneida and makes this voyage almost, but not quite, worth taking.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This movie's biggest contribution to film history will be resurrecting Davies' reputation as a natural comedian stuck in deadly costume pictures because her lover wanted her placed on a pedestal.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

As a period mystery, however, it's as muddy and swirling as the actual record of that fateful, deadly weekend cruise.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Resembles the yacht where it takes place. Everything is arranged for fun, pleasure, and amusement. But the vehicle itself is heavy and cumbersome, and it takes a tad too long to get us where we're going.

Empire Miles Fiedler

Curiously uninvolving. It never comes to life -- even after someone is found dead. Nevertheless, there are pleasures to be found in the performances, particularly in Eddie Izzard's lovelorn Chaplin and Edward Herrmann's paranoid Hearst.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

An inert, respectable bore.

Time Richard Schickel

The result is tiresome and tone-deaf and a disappointing comeback for Bogdanovich.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The script is dead in the water, and most of the misanthropic repartee rings resoundingly false.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Zoe S gave it a9:
I loved it. sure it was a little long, but that makes it all the easier to immerse yourself in the film. I found it very entertaining, with some beautiful and honest points on romantic relationships. As for all those so harshly criticising the film - if you don't like Hollywood period pieces, then don't watch these kinds of movies! Zoe.

Adrian K. gave it an 8:
A bit long, but entertaining and fun. lumley's performance (as elinor glyn) - and pre-hardened louella parson played by tilly - make the movie worth watching until the end. while hearst's character is portrayed well by edward hermann, his behavior is odd and disjointed. would a man reputed as being so powerful buckle and cower under the influence of his not-quite-love affair with marion davies (dunst), even to the point of irrational behavior and murder? doubtful. but then again, it is a movie... great music, great one-liners, great humor, great clothes...good entertainment.

Pat G. gave it a 10:
The era is created to perfection and there are superb performances from Kirsten Dunst and Joanna Lumley. Flawless acting and a totally unbeatable movie!

Sheila S. gave it a 10:
10 out of 10 just for the cool Charleston dancing!!

Steve P. gave it a 5:
Disappointing and dull period drama of old Hollywood. The direction lacks any energy or wit or style.

Richard gave it a 7:
Ultimately a trifle, but a well-executed one with an earned poignancy. Excellent performances all around, especially a surprisingly sharp Tilly.

Mary Jo M. gave it a 3:
Yawner.

Cat's Meow, The Lions Gate Films Inc.

Cat's Meow, The
Lions Gate Films Inc.