I watched “The Cat’s Meow” the other night on cable and have been meaning to start up a thread. Anyone else seen it? it was in and out of the theatre here in about 14 minutes so I missed out and had sort of forgotten about it until it popped up on my TV guide. Nice little movie speculating on the mystery surrounding the death of Thomas Ince aboard WR Hearst’s yacht in the 20s. Kirsten Dunst was really good as Marion Davies. This is the first non-teen role I’ve seen her do and she showed that she has some range beyond the spunky underdog. Edward Herrmann as Hearst, showing once again that he’s good at pretty much everything he does. Eddie Izzard as Charlie Chaplin, Joanna Lumley as Elinor Glyn, Jennifer Tilly as Louella Parsons, all solid. I especially liked the transition of “Lolly” from sycophantic employee desperate for a promotion to savvy woman taking advantage of the golden opportunity. Prime illustration of Madame Glyn’s “Hollywood is an evil beast” theory.
Everything really crackled for the first hour or so, right up until Hearst shoots Ince. I thought it sort of bogged down at that point but I suppose no one’s going to be too terribly merry after a shooting.
I have to say I was awfully disappointed. Mrs. hrhomer and I saw it in the theater, and I damn near fell asleep. I thought Eddie Izzard was exceptional as Chaplin, and the rest of the cast was generally good, but the dialogue really didn’t do it for me. I generally find Hearst fascinating, but not this time…
Who know that Kirsten Dunst could act? Especially if you saw Spiderman first.
This was not a great movie by any means, but I enjoyed it. The cast was excellent, much of the dialogue was sharp, and the period was played properly for a change. I’d recommend it, and doubly so to anyone who hated Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle as much as I did.
Yeah, this was a fun little movie. I was impressed by Dunst as well, and I really liked Herrmann as W.R. Hearst. He pulled off exactly the right mix of sympathetic and creepy. And, much like “Chicago,” the movie really shows how the Jazz Age was deeply cynical at heart. (It always amuses me when Gen Xers act like they invented cynicism. Nope, it has a long and storied tradition, folks.)
You got me. I’ll admit it. I only rented this one because Kirsten Dunst was in it. It was an enjoyable movie, but I probably wouldn’t have cared one whit about it if she wasn’t in it.
Also, I will never be able to watch anything that the guy who plays William Hurst in it without thinking of Dodge or the History Channel.
I loved it. I was especially wowed by Eddie Izzard, but Kirsten Dunst and Edward Hermann were also both outstanding. I saw it back in October but reading this thread I’m seeing various scenes in my head – always a sign of a good movie.
Wow-that’s a coincidence! We just watched this movie last night. I’d never heard of it until I was leafing through the “Indie” section on Netflix. I really enjoyed it, too. Eddie Izzard constantly amazes me-his was a great Chaplin. And I thought the same thing about Dunst-what a surprisingly good performance!