|
New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Cat's Meow, The
Lions Gate Films Inc.
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...
90
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.
90
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
An elegant drama about power and its frightening uses, The Cat's Meow is the bee's knees.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Peter Bogdanovich taps deep into the Hearst mystique, entertainingly reenacting a historic scandal.
80
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.
80
New Times (L.A.)
Bill Gallo
It's vastly enjoyable in a low-down, scandal-mongering way.
80
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.
80
Variety
Derek Elley
Playful and sporty, with just a small twist of the knife, The Cat's Meow is good, uncomplicated fun.
75
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.
75
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.
75
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.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Bogdanovich takes a tale of old Hollywood and infuses it with velocity and enthusiasm.
75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Bogdanovich adds touches to appeal to serious film fans.
75
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.
70
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.
70
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.
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Faithfully recreates a bygone era of larger-than-life filmmakers and stars.
70
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.
70
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
A modest, restrained picture, as small and satisfying as one of Woody Allen's better recent efforts.
63
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.
63
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.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
The film is better on mood than on message, sharply etching the professional desperation behind the forced gaiety.
63
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.
63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
For all its charms, sometimes feels as self-obsessed as the characters it slyly mocks.
60
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.
60
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.
58
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.
50
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.
50
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.
50
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.
50
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.
40
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.
40
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
An inert, respectable bore.
40
Time
Richard Schickel
The result is tiresome and tone-deaf and a disappointing comeback for Bogdanovich.
30
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 7.3 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
