P.S. Your Cat Is Dead

Description

It's New Year's Eve and Jimmy Zoole is having a bad day. He's been robbed twice, his girlfriend is leaving, he just lost his job and the only one left to talk to is a burglar who he has tied to the kitchen counter!

Customer Reviews:

More than good acting... A good actor-director work.......2007-02-22

The movie hasw good rithym and interesting twist from what we see often.

How come "no stars" isn't an option?.......2006-03-17

As a gay friendly movie, this could be an excellent choice. If I had bought this movie for that reason, I think I might have been very happy... but I didn't.

I bought this film because I have enjoyed reading the book so many times that my old copy is completely worn out. I was hoping to have a good laugh after a bad day at work when I spied this flick at a local video store, but I wasn't prepared for this.

I expected a little modernization on the original story, which I was ready to be disapointed by, but I didn't expect the burglar's nationality to be changed. A bisexual italian burglar would have been a great character, but he has been changed to a latino in the film. The drug related scenes that always had me giggling in the book have been toned down (and changed as well) in a big way. Some of the good parts are still good, but not as many as they should have been.

To conclude this review... if the movie had been made in the 70's, it would have been great... but what the director felt that he had to do to keep up with current times was deplorable. This is a DVD that just collects dust in my collection now.

Surprisingly brilliant!.......2006-02-05

I must admit, I had low expectations of the film. After reading mixed reviews, many from purist fans having a good old lash-out, I bought the film hoping i'd find something in it to enjoy. Well, paint me green and call me Gumby - this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable films I have seen in years.

The onscreen chemistry between Steve Guttenberg and Lombardo Boyar is superb, and a vitally important element considering the homoerotic content. I do wonder why the writers chose not to place enough emphasis on their eventual relationship - they ended up in bed together in the play. Nonetheless, the film chugs on nicely without resorting to bedroom scenes...by the end of the film, the shift in their relationship is as clear as day. The foundations are there for the viewer to build on.

The script itself is well-written, punchy and poignant in just the right places. The first twenty minutes seemed a little slow, compared to the pace of everything that follows. Perhaps the introduction will seem slow only to first-time viewers, in which case I urge you to pay attention, as the information will keep popping up as the film progresses.

The supporting characters, namely Cynthia Watros as Kate and A.J. Benzo as Carmine, are smartly cast. Given their limited screen time and character development, they bring an undeniable spark to what easily could have been boring, almost loathsome roles.

I had a ball watching P.S. Your Cat Is Dead. It is definitely worth your time to find this film. Be sure to check out the commentary on the DVD, which had me in absolute stitches!

The Jim Kirkwood Post-Mortem Adaptation Jinx Strikes Again!.......2005-11-13

After having seen how three of Kirkwood's best works ("Some Kind of Hero", "A Chorus Line", and "P.S. Your Cat is Dead") have been so unkindly treated in their big screen adaptations--or perhaps I should say, their "straight to video" adaptations--I can only come to one conclusion: There must be a post-mortem cinematic adaptation jinx attached to him! I've been spared--up until now--a viewing of "There Must Be a Pony", which I can only assume is as dismal as the aforementioned three, and my hope is that another Steve Guttenburg (or Steve Guttenburg himself, for that matter) abstains from bringing the world his own particular vision of "Good Times/Bad Times". Maybe the things which we originally found so fresh and daring about Kirkwood have lost their bite; maybe filmmakers haven't had the correct sensibility when they have approached it. Whatever the reason, I've had it! The thought that his works will be most enduringly remembered by these mediocre films--because after all, who reads books anymore?--disgusts and depresses me. It's time for the Steve Guttenburgs of this planet to leave poor Jim Kirkwood rest in peace.

"I suddenly realized I'm probably in the wrong profession".......2005-08-27

Having never read James Kirkwood's 1972 novel, I've nothing to compare the film version of P.S. Your Cat Is Dead with. Most viewers and critics feel that this movie adaptation is a rather belated and stale affair, but I thought it was remarkably clever, original, and well acted. The story, about a straight man that traps a gay burglar in his house marks the competent directorial debut of Steve Guttenberg, who also co-scripted and stars as a failed actor Jimmy Zoole.

Jimmy is having a hard time of it of late. He's an attractive, talented guy, but his one-man Hamlet stage project incorporating puppetry went bust. Kate, his girlfriend (Cynthia Watros) has just walked out on him, and his cat is in hospital near death from a urinary infection. On New Year's Eve, he returns home to his loft apartment to find his place being ransacked.

His rage at boiling point, he knocks out the intruder and ties him down to the kitchen counter. Overjoyed at the prospect of tormenting someone else for a change, he toys with the thief, a hunky gay Mexican named Eddie (Lombardo Boyar), by plying him with cat food. They trade lots of insults for a while, eventually bonding through mutual confessions and tales of woe.

Although an odd assortment of characters come and go, the movie is, for the most part, just Jimmy and his captive audience - Eddie and us. But Guttenberg proves to be a deft hand at direction and he is able to move the claustrophobic proceedings along at a brisk and snappy pace. The small cast also nicely acts the film, with Guttenberg, suitably playing Jimmy as a rumpled, neurotic mess who is just hanging on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Boyar brings a bit of verve and sophistication to the role of burglar in bondage and Shirley Knight, and Cynthia Watros make the most of their small parts; Knight is especially acerbic as Jimmy's materialistic, and self-absorbed aunt who keeps pressuring him to come away with her, while constantly handing out money to him.

There are various soliloquies of hardship and teary-eyed confessionals, but Guttenberg proves he is more than capable of freshening up the generic proceedings; his framing is crisp, his pacing brisk, and his eye alert to telling detail. But it's Boyar who's the real find here; he has a gently magnetic presence that is all the more impressive for being thoroughly riveting, despite spending most of the movie face-down on a counter. Mike Leonard August 05.

Average customer rating:

More than good acting... A good actor-director work
How come "no stars" isn't an option?
Surprisingly brilliant!
The Jim Kirkwood Post-Mortem Adaptation Jinx Strikes Again!
"I suddenly realized I'm probably in the wrong profession"

P.S. Your Cat Is Dead!
Starring: A.J. Benza , Lombardo Boyar , Paul Dillon , Patsy Fitzgerald , and Ann Guttenberg
Director: Steve Guttenberg
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JM3Z