The Cat’s Meow is a rather unusual film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who crafts a story based around what could have happened on a cruise – a true-life event – when a mysterious death occurs aboard media mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht. The death is actually only a side-note in the actual story –the whole movie seems more than anything determined to portray the envy and ruthlessness of the entertainment business.
In one scene someone epitomes what they think of the Hollywood phenomena, which is encapsulated in what they call The California Curse”. This is:
1/ You think you are the most important person in any room
2/ You value money above all other things in the world
3/ You no longer have any sense of shame or morality.
Some of those on the boat seem to revel in this atmosphere, others accept it as a distasteful but necessary evil, while some attempt to reject its influence – with varying degrees of success. If you watch this film expecting a murder mystery you will be disappointed – really it’s a character study of what fame can do to people.
The cast includes Edward Herrmann as William, with Kirsten Dunst lovely but somehow dangerous as his mistress, young starlet Marion Davis, actor Charlie Chaplin (effectively played by Eddie Izzard), and several other prominent or upcoming media personalities. They all have their own agendas and, true to the California Curse, seem intent on achieving them without a care for anyone else. Joanna Lumley narrates the opening in her role as Elinor Glyn, who has a world-weary attitude towards everything. I have little knowledge of the event that happened back in 1924, but I would guess that rather a large amount of poetic licence helped the creation of this film’s plot. Still, the different aspects are weaved together quite believably, and the character studies are fairly compelling.
The problem occurs with the death itself. The whole thing ends up seeming like such an anti-climax that you almost wondered why they bothered including it in the film at ll. Add in a few pointless moments and a very slow start, and we are left with a film that wins points for being different, but loses some for failing to develop its potential. The cast are good and there’s a nice music score, but it takes too long to get going and then, once it has started to really engage us, slips off into dreamland again. There are a couple of young actresses / models who are “introduced” in this film, and after watching it you really wonder why anyone bothered introducing them. Still, everyone’s got to start somewhere I suppose.
I did enjoy watching The Cat’s Meow and would probably watch it again sometime, but overall it was merely watchable rather than absorbing. Worth a look if you want something different. Dunst is even more watchable than usual in this film, but even she doesn’t lift it much about average.
Rated PG-13 for sexuality, a scene of violence and brief drug use. (One of the introduced ones flashes her breasts briefly and for no apparent reason.) Rated 12A in the UK.
Runtime: 114 minutes – it was overlong, taking off twenty minutes or so could have worked wonders for this film.
Year of release: 2001
Quotes
Tom Ince: Anyhow, failure is a character builder, right Charlie?
Charlie Chaplin: I don't know, Tom. You tell me.
---
Thomas Ince: You're a civilized man.
W. R. Hearst: Oh, and why does that surprise you, Tom?
Thomas Ince: Because you have the power to act uncivilized.
(Since Tom Ince is in both quotes I’ve chosen from this movie, I guess I should tell you that he’s played by Cary Elwes.)
From award-winning screenwriter Steven Peros and acclaimed director Peter Bogdanovich comes The Cat s Meow, an extraordinary look at a fateful excursi...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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