Film Review: Tomcats (2001)
Prolonged male adolescence is, according to many commentators, source of many woes in America and the rest of Western world. But for the protagonist of Tomcats, 2001 comedy written and directed by Gregory Poirier, that exact condition is exactly what is supposed to get out of the trouble. Seven years ago Michael Delaney (played by Jerry O’Connell) and his best friend saw one of them getting married and decided to make bet. Winner is going to be the last one remaining bachelor among the group. The initially small sum was invested at the stock market and grew exponentially over the years. Michael has all but forgotten about it, but he suddenly remembers after losing large amount of money in Las Vegas and become indebted to vicious loan shark Carlos (played by Bill Maher). Now only two of the initial members of the group remained bachelors – Michael and callous playboy Kyle Brenner (played by Jake Busey). Michael believes that he can win bet and thus save his life if he sets up Kyle with a woman that could bring him to the altar at short notice. Thankfully, Kyle confides in him that he once was deeply in love with certain Natalie Parker (played by Shannon Elizabeth). Michael manages to track her down and finds that she now works as policewoman, still resentful towards Kyle because he has left her. Michael tells her that she could exact perfect revenge by marrying Kyle, instantly divorce him and later split the money with him. Natalie agrees, but the scheme gets complicated when Michael realises that he has fallen in love with her.
While the “high concept” suggests just another standard romantic comedy, Gregory Poirirer adds very adult content that makes Tomcats family-unfriendly. That includes explicit references towards certain sex acts, parts of human anatomy being used in rather unconventional manner and even showdowns with graphic violence that looks like it came from Sam Peckinpah’s films. Once the initial shock wears off and viewers become accustomed to watching something more akin to Farrelly Brothers’ works, they would notice that, at the end of the day, plot and characters are just as cliched as in more standard Hollywood romantic comedies. Two main actors – Jerry O’Connell and Shannon Elizabeth – are rather bland and lack any chemistry together. Jake Busey, young actor who was specialising in roles of semi-villainous character roles at the time, is obviously having much more fun playing Kelly. Use of animation at the opening titles also makes this film look little bit refreshing, but, in the end, this isn’t enough to improve the general impression of Tomcats. The film had modest success at box office despite being savaged by critics over alleged sexism and misogynia, but it quickly became forgotten. Although watchable and occasionally entertaining, Tomcats could easily give today’s viewers answer why it happened.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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