P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! (2002) Reviews

• Wonderful adaption of James Kirkwoods novel/play

  thepetshopboy2002-07-17

  Just saw a screening of this at Outfest. Despite it being based on one of my favorite novels (Kirkwood also wrote A Chorus Line) I was a bit disturbed to see 80's cheeseball actor Steve Guttenberg (he of Police Academy fame) as the director and star. Let me be the first to say I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the film wonderful but Guttenberg's against type portrayal of a down-on-his luck actor who begins to doubt his heterosexuality in the face of tragedy managed to completely make me reevaluate his acting prowess. His hissy fit in the scene where he finds out his girlfriend is leaving him for another man is absolutely hilarious as are his comic interactions with his burglar/prisoner (Lombardo Boyar) which are both touching and funny. All in all a very good adaption of a very good book...one of the better independent films of the year from Steve Guttenberg of all people...who would have thought it? Howard Stern fans keep on the lookout for one-time Howard sidekick/E! Scandals host/NY Gossip Columnist AJ Benza in a over-the-top turn as a gay hairdresser who tries to rape Guttenberg...LOL... hilarious!

• It all works out in the end

  tulsastorm2003-12-11

  Jimmy is still getting over the death of his best friend. His one-man show gets the axe. He's being evicted from his apartment. His girlfriend leaves him for another guy, and his cat dies. He's been burglarized 2--now almost 3 times--this month. Eddie the divorced father turned gay burgler picked the wrong day to mess with Jimmy. After having wrecked my car this week, enduring some rotten weather, and a handful of other minor complaints, I watched this movie. I realized, like Jimmy, that it could be much worse, but everything works out for the best in the end. This isn't the best (or worst) movie, but it is worth the warm, fuzzy feeling you get at the end.

• Small, personal movie --very like an off-Broadway play.

  catman472003-08-22

  This is a small film dealing with people going through breakdowns of various relationships. The main character is on the verge of being evicted from his apartment, having his girl-friend leaving him for another man, learning that his feline companion has died from a urinary infection at the vet's, and being burgled for a second time in two day's. Steve Guttenberg does a super job as Jimmy, the main character. In fact, the entire cast does excellent work, especially, Ms Watrous, as the Jimmy's girl friend, and Lombardy, the young actor who plays the burglar. The sense of outrage and loss which Jimmy feels comes across powerfully, as he takes his frustration out on the captured burglar who is bound and strapped semi-nude over the kitchen sink. What could have become ludicrous becomes very touching as each of them slowly realizes that they have much more in common than they could ever have realized. They are each others salvation! (Actually, it seems that the core of this awareness has been edited out because things happen a little too quickly! Several lines don't make sense) I would say that the film does not go far enough in conveying the emotion that is developing between Jimmy and the burglar. There is a holding back which does not seem realistic. Even on the special feature section of the DVD the cast was responding to the final scenes and began shouting out comments as to the lack of physical expression between the two men.

• Sal Mineo would have been honored..GREAT!

  salmineo2004-04-18

  I am the owner of the official website of the great, late actor, Sal Mineo. I rented this as Sal was starring in the hit play shortly before his murder, which is now this film, and I was curious. I am impressed! Lombardo Boyer plays the role Sal was playing, and gave me an idea of what Sal's performance was like in the play. Boyer is great! Steve Guttenberg is great here too, who also adapted this to film and directed it. I am suprised it wasn't released by a bigger studio! The credits dedicate the film to SAL MINEO!! Bless you, Steve.

• Not quite the character I read in the novel

  mindnbody2005-01-05

  Having recently read James Kirkwood's novel, I was interested to see the movie, which received much film festival exposure not too long ago. Although I'd never seen the play, I found the novel engrossing: sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes squirm-in-your-seat uncomfortable. Still, the story of a man who appears to have so much going for him -- steady acting jobs; beautiful, successful girlfriend; great best friend; fabulous (and cheap) apartment in NYC; and, yes, a loyal cat -- who finds himself experiencing devastating setback after setback really held my attention. While I think that Steve Guttenberg's adaptation was actually commendable -- e.g., having Jimmy interview Eddie in order to provide exposition for the burglar's character -- I cannot help but wonder if the Jimmy Zoole that he wrote was an entirely different character than the one I read. The Jimmy Zoole that I envisioned was more of a neat, conservative, draw-inside-the-lines type of guy. That is, boring. However, Guttenberg's portrayal showed only a very narrow part of Zoole: the needy, unhinged and sleep-deprived man who refused to be burgled one more time. Unfortunately, because little of the character's history made it into the screenplay, the impression that I got was that Zoole was always a sad-sack. And that's what doesn't make sense to me: how could such a desperately miserable man have ever occupied that amazing loft, or won the affection of such a smart and beautiful woman, or had such wonderful friends (not shown in the movie)? I'm curious to see how versions of this story are played out on the stage. Perhaps my read of the novel differs from most. Nonetheless, I was sorely disappointed by the film, in spite of the powerful performance by Lombardo Boyer.