The Cat's Meow
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Movie Reviews of The Cat's Meow
Movie Review: I didn't feel the magic
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a diverting movie, but a disappointment nonetheless. The acting was just fine, especially Kirsten Dunst, who is quite three-dimensional as the surprisingly strong and willfully charming actress Marion Davies who was Wm. Randolph Hearst's mistress. The rest of the cast is fine, too, except for the horribly annoying Jennifer Tilly as Louella Parsons. (Time for Ms. Tilly's gold watch. Enough's enough.) The sets, the look--all of that was done with a fine devotion to period accuracy and style. Music, too. So it's well-done. But the script misfires in a few areas. Its depiction of Hearst is as mean-spirited in its own way as Orson Welles', but far less compelling as it portrays Hearst as a helpless, paranoid buffoon, which he most assuredly was not. The man Davies describes to other characters is a far more interesting character than the man you see. Chaplin's ardor is not particularly believable, but other characters seem to believe it despite evidence to the contrary. Ditto Thomas Ince's role as a movie mogul. He's so weak, dumb and whiny, you can't imagine that he ever scaled the heights from which he is now tumbling. So, in the end, I think it's worth seeing, but I really was hoping for something much better.Movie Review: Delightful, fun...'cruise' of a tale
Summary: 3 Stars
Really enjoyed screening Peter Bogdonovich's 'A Cat's Meow' which was certainly not a disappointment. This inventive story/script that was cleverly based on Hollywood myth/legend of a presumed love affair Charlie Chaplin had with William Randolph Heart's mistress, Marion Davies and had my interest fully. I was happy with the performances - namely Eddie Izzard as the dashing and flamboyant Chaplin - and worthy direction but was hoping there could have been shots other than on the yacht...i.e. at the studio or the castle/ranch; that would have been a real treat. But for the twist they presented, I guess it served it's purpose - hence the title of course. A terrible habit I got into during the film was comparing it similarities to Robert Altman of how uses a numerous characters and intertwining story-lines yet at times can lead to disarray and inconsistencies (i.e. 'Ready to Wear', Shortcuts') while Bogdonovich's surpasses the challenge of an ensemble cast to generate and substantiate both the scene to scene intrigue and well-performed drama as well as focusing of the proposed love triangle. This film would be a delight for Caine/Welles enthusiasts and happy to see Bogdonovich triumph with a great film.Movie Review: Kirsten Dunst is No Marion Davies
Summary: 3 Stars
Norma Desmond was right: they really DID have faces then.And Marion Davies' was one of them.Part of the reason this film doesn't work is that Dunst doesn't have the screen prescence of any of her co-stars [Joanna Lumley as Elinor Glinn and Jennifer Tilley as Louella Parsons steal it].
That leaves a big cipher in the middle of the film. There is no electricity between Davies and Herrmann [his retro rich industrialist/politician/stock broker fill in the blank ,is just useful here as Hearst.He's done it over and over again to the point of self parody...is that Roosevelt this time?]nor Davies and Chaplin.
The movie is beautifully photographed, but the lack of a real central prescence as the catalyst for the obsession and passion and resulting tragedy made it disappointing and irritating.
Marion Davies was alive on film,interesting and funny and loyal in real life, not this dreary dish water dull [imitation is not the word, I doubt Dunst even knew who she was]thumbnail sketch of Marion Davies as "interpreted" by Kirsten Dunst.
What a dud. Glad I didn't got to the theatre to see it.Really infuriating because it had such potential.
Movie Review: "Othello in Tinseltown"
Summary: 3 Stars
For at least the first hour, this film is oddly inert, even boring. This is so despite an incessant forced vivacity owing to the desperate overacting of most of the principal players. What we are watching is simply an old Hollywood gossip item here fleshed out (or rather bloated)into an initially reductive, merely surfacy version of Shakespeare's "Othello." Hearst is the jealous Moor, Davies the winning Desdemona, the neglected Ince (even desiring a particular job in Hearst's gift!)the informer Iago, and Chaplin the lascivious Cassio. The unoriginal script and the absence of memorable dialogue are here responsible for the dullness even more than the claustrophobic setting filled with scenery chewers or the too calculated direction. Then, surprisingly, the principal characters (even Lolly Parsons!) become more than surfaces, and in the cases of Hearst and Davies, even fully rounded enough to be genuinely moving. This movie splits in two: an undistinguished first half is joined to an elegant, pretty wonderful second. It's unfortunate the skills of the latter half are not in evidence throughout.
Movie Review: All Style, no Substance
Summary: 3 Stars
While Kirsten Dunst and Edward Herrmann both give fine performances, this movie is essentially just a fluffy (and historically inaccurate) costume drama. There is little evidence to support this interpretation of the events that took place on Hearst's yacht that weekend, and plenty to contradict it -- e.g. the fact that Hearst and Chaplin remained friends for years afterward. And, while Kirsten Dunst is fun to watch, she's way to young to play the part of Marion Davies at that time. Also, too much of the dialog seems "scripted" -- like people reciting clever lines, rather than like real conversations. Nice sets and costumes save the movie from being a complete waste of time, but unless you're a big Kirsten Dunst fan, you'll do better watching something else!