The Gingerbread Man (1998)

Directed by: Robert Altman

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Lawyer Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) tries to help a woman named Mallory (Embeth Davidtz) escape her insane father by having him committed.

Purr Blur: In an early scene Rick is heading into a restaurant. A long-haired tuxedo cat is sitting on the steps outside.

The Gingerbread Man - tuxedo cat on stairs by Rick Kenneth Branagh

Featured Feline: Rick meets Mallory outside the restaurant in the rain and offers her a ride home. Once there they hear something falling in the kitchen. Going to investigate, they find a ginger tabby cat has knocked a beer bottle off the top of the refrigerator. The cat then jumps down.

The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat on top of refrigerator
The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat about to leap from refrigerator in front of Rick Kenneth Branagh

Rick and Mallory make love and Rick wakes up the next morning with the cat between them.

The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat in bed between Rick Kenneth Branagh and Mallory Embeth Davidtz
The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat in bed between Rick Kenneth Branagh and Mallory Embeth Davidtz
The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat in bed between Rick Kenneth Branagh and Mallory Embeth Davidtz

Realizing he is late, Rick leaps up, leaving the cat next to the sleeping Mallory.

The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat lying on bed
The Gingerbread Man - ginger tabby cat in bed between Rick Kenneth Branagh and Mallory Embeth Davidtz

Kitty Carnage Warning: Unfortunately Rick later calls on Mallory only to find the cat hanging, strangled, inside the door. He presumes her father killed the cat. The shot of the dead cat is a long and unsettling one. We have no information but would hope a fake cat was used.

Kitty Cameos: Rick is divorced and takes his son Jeff (Jesse James) and daughter Libby (Mae Whitman) to an outdoor festival. A woman is offering pets for adoption and hands Libby a tuxedo kitten.

The Gingerbread Man - Libby Mae Whitman taking tuxedo kitten from woman
The Gingerbread Man - Libby Mae Whitman holding tuxedo kitten

Unfortunately Jeff is allergic to cats and Rick has to pull them away. He asks them not to tell their mother, but of course Libby tells her what happened the minute they get home.

The Gingerbread Man - Libby Mae Whitman holding tuxedo kitten next to Rick Kenneth Branagh

Cat Cattle Call: In need of witnesses to Mallory’s father’s behavior, Rick calls on her ex-husband, Pete (Tom Berenger). Pete works on a boat with three cats in the wheelhouse.

The Gingerbread Man - long-haired cream tabby Ike, tuxedo cat and tabby and white longhair in wheelhouse of boat with Pete Tom Berenger

Rick enters and eyes a cream-colored long-haired cat. “That one’s called Ike,” Pete explains. “Yeah, he looks like the General,” Rick responds, thinking of Eisenhower. “No, not that one. Ike, like Ike and Tina,” Pete elaborates.

The Gingerbread Man - Rick Kenneth Branagh looking at long-haired cream tabby Ike with tuxedo cat next to Pete Tom Berenger on boat
The Gingerbread Man - Rick Kenneth Branagh with tuxedo cat next to Pete Tom Berenger on boat

Much later in the film Rick is back on the boat when a black cat and Ike lead him to make a gruesome discovery.

The Gingerbread Man - long-haired cream tabby Ike and black cat near body wrapped in plastic
The Gingerbread Man - long-haired cream tabby Ike and black cat near body wrapped in plastic

Final Mewsings: There has to be a way to foreshadow a crazed killer besides killing the cat!

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