Directed by: Garry Marshall
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: David Basner (Tom Hanks) is a successful advertising executive who has to face a new reality when his mother Lorraine (Eva Marie Saint) leaves his aging father (Jackie Gleason).
Kitty Cameo: As his personal life becomes more tense, David struggles to put together a successful ad campaign for an airline. While shooting the commercial, the actress playing the grandmother is drunk. When they take a break, one of David’s assistants directs a man to place an orange and white tabby cat on the set in a chair.
David asks, “What is this?” “It’s a housecat,” the man replies, “What? You want something more exotic?”
The man goes on to explain that Roger (John Kapelos), the director, said to get a cat to dress the set.
This sets David off on a tirade. He tells the man to get the cat out of there and calls for Roger. Roger says he thought it would be interesting for the grandmother to say goodbye to the cat since she’s going to go visit her family. “Oh, I see, that’s a real good idea,” David says flippantly, “Let’s do a commercial about a sweet old grandma who abandons a cat in a freezing cold house in the dead of winter so she can go off and romp with the grandkids. That’s a real good idea, Rog! We could get coverage of the cat like clawing its way, trying to get out so he can lick snow and get some nourishment!”
Final Mewsings: At least someone was finally thinking about the cat!
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