Directed by: Barry Levinson

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: Simon Axler (Al Pacino) is an aging actor who suffers a breakdown brought on by encroaching dementia. After returning home from an institution, he begins an affair with a young lesbian named Pegeen (Greta Gerwig).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): After spending some time together, Pegeen shows up one day with many of her belongings including a grey tabby cat named Emily.

Simon attempts to carry Pegeen’s suitcase and throws his back out. “Oh no, look at what happened to him!” she says to Emily.

After Simon suggests to Pegeen that she tell her parents about their relationship, she quickly shoots that idea down, saying she believes that Simon and her mother had had an affair of their own back in the day. As Pegeen is telling this story, she is waving her hand around. Actress Greta Gerwig then accidentally pets the cat actor on the face, causing the cat to react by rearing back and squirming in her arms. Fortunately Gerta stays calm and they get through the rest of the scene.

Kitty Carnage Warning! Later Pegeen’s parents Carol (Dianne Wiest) and Asa (Dan Hedaya) show up and confront the couple as they are about to drive away. Simon hits the gas and there is a loud poor cat screech. Pegeen leaps out crying for Emily. They pull the cat from beneath the car and we see the kitty has a bloody paw (some kind of stuff has been placed there to look like an injury).

Pegeen insists they go to the veterinarian while her parents continue to berate her for keeping secrets from them.

At the vet, Pegeen and Carol walk inside. The cat actor keeps her head tucked inside Greta’s arm for much of this scene.

When they emerge from the vet, Emily is wearing a cone and has her front leg bandaged. Later in the film Pegeen tells Simon over the phone that Emily has died and they even have a funeral for her.

Purr Blur: At the vet, Simon throws his back out again and at Pegeen’s urging the doctor gives him a muscle relaxant shot. An Abyssinian cat can be seen in a cage behind them.

There is also a photo of a woman holding a black and white cat in the waiting room at the veterinarian’s office.

Final Mewsings: Cat actors appreciate actors who know how to pet them properly.

Many thanks to Mark Murton for letting us know about the cat in this film.

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