The Cat's Meow

What stands out first about The Cat's Meow is the confidence with which Peter Bogdanovich establishes its crime drama identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, The Cat's Meow asks Kirsten Dunst and Cary Elwes to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of The Cat's Meow is established with useful clarity: Semi true story of the Hollywood murder that occurred at a star studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924. That direct approach lets The Cat's Meow use its 1h 54m running time for character, atmosphere and consequence.

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The plot of The Cat's Meow is built around the uneasy relationship between Semi and Hollywood. For Kirsten Dunst, that relationship gives The Cat's Meow an emotional objective stronger than simple forward motion. The screenplay associated with Steven Peros lets William Randolph Hearst reshape the direction of The Cat's Meow in stages. Although the treatment of the central character could be sharper, The Cat's Meow never entirely loses the thread established at the beginning.

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The most useful technical choice in The Cat's Meow is a pace shaped by consequence, because it helps the audience understand both space and mood. Lionsgate frames The Cat's Meow through a pace shaped by consequence without letting surface finish replace character. Drawing on its United Kingdom background, The Cat's Meow uses careful ensemble blocking to give familiar material a more specific texture. Cinematography, sound and editing meet effectively in The Cat's Meow whenever a sequence must feel large without losing its human scale.

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Beneath its plot, The Cat's Meow is most interested in loyalty, ambition and the damage caused by an apparently small compromise. That concern becomes visible through Kirsten Dunst, whose choices allow The Cat's Meow to explore an idea without stopping for a speech. Semi gives the themes of The Cat's Meow a concrete dramatic form rather than leaving them abstract. The emotional value of The Cat's Meow grows whenever Peter Bogdanovich trusts the audience to connect behaviour with the larger question.

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What keeps The Cat's Meow emotionally readable is Kirsten Dunst, whose choices establish a consistent point of view. In scenes with Cary Elwes, The Cat's Meow gains tension from two performers refusing to produce the same kind of energy. Edward Herrmann contributes a separate rhythm to The Cat's Meow and helps the supporting material feel less purely functional. The direction by Peter Bogdanovich gives the cast of The Cat's Meow room to connect the quieter beats with the larger ones.

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Peter Bogdanovich gives The Cat's Meow a directorial line that is alive in individual scenes and uncertain between them from its opening promise to its final movement. The staging of The Cat's Meow is strongest when Peter Bogdanovich allows motivation to determine pace instead of reversing that priority. Viewed as a complete piece, The Cat's Meow confirms that the cast and craft keep the experience watchable across most of the running time. A tighter version of The Cat's Meow would address how too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested, yet the surrounding work remains persuasive.

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For crime drama viewers interested in difficult choices and damaged trust, The Cat's Meow is ultimately an uneven film with enough personality to remain interesting. Its most persuasive combination in The Cat's Meow brings Kirsten Dunst together with careful ensemble blocking under the direction of Peter Bogdanovich. The fact that too many scenes explain effects the actors have already suggested prevents The Cat's Meow from being entirely seamless. Even with that reservation, The Cat's Meow has a clear point of view and enough genuine feeling to justify the journey.