Cat City [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Here's a film that to my knowledge never made a blip on the radar. This is the type of movie a lot of folks are looking for. Here we have THE sexiest woman around, Rebecca Pidgeon doing what she does best, acting. She lights up every scene. The dry heat setting and razor sharp dialogue lured me in from the beginning.
This is that curious style of thriller-mystery that really hits the mark. If you like a basically 5 or 6 character film that runs the gamut of emotions, this is right up your alley. Top notch acting by all. Brian Denehey looks like hes doing just about his last role, but lets hope not. The ending is a little messy but don't forget to check the dvd extras to see the original ending. You have to get lucky to stumble upon an engrossing quirky little movie like this. Should be a blu-ray candidate. (Steer clear of "reviewers" that glance at a film for 15 minutes then attempt to report on it.)

Cat City hooked me from the opening frame. You'll know what I mean once you see the film. The narrative quickly moves to an area in Palm Springs known as Cat City. The story is an intoxicating cat and mouse game between a husband, wife, lover and sleuth. The are plenty of plot twists to keep the audience on their toes. Cat City harkens back to the days of Raymond Chandler. Why aren't more movies like this made? The performances are top notch and the scenery and production value is stunning. Cat City

Owed money, cheating spouses, shady criminals...these are the staples of crime thrillers. Cat City, directed by Brent Huff, makes good use of these in this latest attempt. The film follows , a couple who's marriage is seemingly on the rocks. Then comes in Jonas (Massi), a seemingly harmless stranger...but of course things aren't always what they seem.

My main problem with Cat City isn't that the story is nothing new. I rarely even expect much originality as far as plot goes with thrillers these days. However, to make such a story work the movie needs interesting characters and something to captivate the audience. I couldn't really find that in Cat City.

While it wasn't a trainwreck, I found myself often not caring what happened to the characters. Whether they were the "good guys" or the "bad guys," either way I was not attached to any. The standout, however, was the film's biggest star with ironically the smallest amount of screen time; Brian Dennehy. He played a private eye with some connection to the scheme at hand.

While I didn't hate the movie, I can't say I particularily enjoyed it. It wasn't badly put together, and the acting was decent. But again I find the problem, as I do with most of these types of movies, lying in the writing. Nothing jumped out to me. The best part of the story came at the ending, I always love a good twist ending. Sadly, many may tune out before this one even gets there.

On a side note: I'm not sure who OK'ed the DVD cover, but there were no hot fast cars and I'm pretty sure the sexy woman is not one of the actresses.

Source: criticnic.com 18-September-2010
Disclosure: Film sent by MTI Home Video