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THE CAT'S MEOW Send This Review to a Friend
Director Peter Bogdanovich makes a smashing comeback with his classy, elegantly entertaining Hollywood murder mystery "The Cat's Meow," which brims with delightful performances by a dream cast portraying headline-making celebrities in a cleverly-scripted tale set in the 1920s. Everything clicks--the snazzy period costumes, the suspenseful but playful screenplay by Steven Peros, the colorful performances and Bogdanovich's directorial know-how added to his zest for telling this particular story.
The action takes place during a weekend trip aboard the fancy yacht of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. A real-life Hollywood mystery has existed concerning the mysterious death of a movie industry notable, and Bogdanovich and Peros have worked out a scenario of what might have really happened. As seen in "The Cat's Meow,' a murder occurs during the celebrity-studded partying. (I won't tell you who dies.) Hearst was known for the lavish parties he threw. Here he is depicted in a dynamic performance by Edward Herrmann as both boorish--he likes to shoot gulls from the deck and spies on his guests from a peephole in the floor--and vulnerably jealous in his relationship with actress Marion Davies, his companion. There is a particularly touching scene between them.
Rumors have it that Davies is being unfaithful with Charlie Chaplin. Kirsten Dunst is spectacularly charming and very believable as Davies, who attempts to ward off the persistent advances by the womanizing Chaplin, played by British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard with a flair that captures the elan of Chaplin without slavishly attempting to look exactly like him. It is a brilliant performance by Izzard. The story is spun from the perspective of its narrator, the writer Elinor Glyn, played with sly sophistication by Joanna Lumley.
Another major performing coup is provided by Jennifer Tilly, as the eager young gossip columnist Louella Parsons before she became the much feared power in the Hearst empire who could make or break careers in her column. The film provides a reason for her long-time contract and the prestigious position that she was guaranteed. Tilly makes Parsons a bubbly combination of feigned innocence and deviousness, and she's simply terrific in the part. Cary Elwes makes the most of another good role, that of producer Thomas Ince, whose fortunes are on the wane and who desperately needs a comeback opportunity.
The supporting cast adds effectively to the colorful entourage, although two flappers on the voyage seem a bit overdone. But that's a quibble in a film that is consistently elegant, intelligent and absorbing in its take on Hollywood and its history. The screenplay stems in part from a play by Peros, which in turn had been fed by the rumor mill. Bogdanovich heard the version from Orson Welles, a version that almost made it into "Citizen Kane."
Whatever the facts, the point here is that Bogdanovich and company have turned the story into an enticing, enjoyable film that casts a cynical eye over Hollywood but keeps everything brightly entertaining at the same time. Note too that the film is alive with a broad selection of music of the era, and that helps establish just the right tone and atmosphere. A Lions Gate Films release.
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