12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Oy, What a Disappointment, January 23, 2004
It's been years since I read the book, but this film brought back none of the good feelings I remember from that experience. The usually charming Steve Guttenberg is annoying beyond belief. Sadly, his directing debut is even worse. Pacing is agonizingly slow, editing is all wrong. The apartment, which is described in the film's own dialogue as a dump, is gorgeous. The whole thing makes no sense. Only my fond memories of the book kept me watching to the end, hoping against hope it would get better. It never did. The best thing in the movie is A. J. Benza as the would-be rapist Carmine. During his two brief scenes the screen pulses with energy. You know you're in trouble when the best thing in the movie is the rapist.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Jim Kirkwood Post-Mortem Adaptation Jinx Strikes Again!, November 12, 2005
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.
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21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor rendering of a very funny and touching play, July 7, 2004
P.S. Your Cat is Dead should be hilariously funny. It should be poignantly touching. The film version of the same is neither.
Steve Guttenburg, who both stars and directs this film is to be commended for making a film that most would not bother putting to celluloid. Unfortunately, he needs someone to provide him with better direction and someone to provide better pacing of the film.
The basic premise is that Jimmy Zool is a poor jerk who has just lost his girlfriend, his job, his cat is in the vet, and his apartment has just been robbed - for the 3rd time! Life can't get much worse can it? Enter the robber for another return visit. Caught in the act, the robber is forced to undergo humiliations at the hands of Jimmy. Eventually the two come to terms with each other and learn to actually not only like each other but realize there may be something more in the offing.
Guttenburg plays Jimmy as a sad sack with little or no likable characteristics. The character is supposed to merely be the victim of a series of bad incidences. He's feeling pretty low. Unfortunately, Guttenburg's Jimmy is morose and not likable at all. Also, he wears this tragically unattractive facial expression throughout most of the film that is supposed to pass for sadness - not an emotion that is one that Jimmy is really dealing with - it's more deeply felt than just that.
The fellow who plays the robber is at least refreshing in his role, though I feel that he's playing it a bit too light heartedly. (You see, I've directed the stage version of this play). This is the role that Sal Mineo was playing at the time of his murder - I doubt that the talented Mineo would have played him quite as flippant on the whole.
My last, and probably biggest qualm with this film is that Guttenburg has chosen to avoid the entire subject of the romantic involvement that happens with Jimmy and the Robber. Heck, they end up in bed together at the end of the play! This is a subtle piece of characterization that happens as Jimmy realizes that maybe he's been going at things in his life all wrong. Instead, Guttenburg plays this as though the two men, although one is gay, simply become friends. Since one of the men is laid face down and naked from the waist down (in the play - not in this film) on the kitchen sink for most of the action, it is doubtful that a simple friendship is all that would come out of this encounter. It is also doubtful that anything truly meaningful with come of the encounter, but it is likely that somehting poignant and life changing will come of it for Jimmy. THAT is the message that the play provides. It is NOT the message that the film gets across.
I love this play and the book on which it was based. I don't love this film - and I really wanted to.
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