1984 Private Defense Contractors
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Jacki Weaver
Also Starring: Cairo, Spike
Directed by: Marjane Satrapi

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

Synopsis: Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) is excited with the prospect of forming friendships with his co-workers and maybe even a relationship with the beautiful Fiona (Gemma Arterton) but his struggle with mental illness has him caught between the contradictory advice he’s getting from his dog Bosco (Hamish) and cat Mr. Whiskers (Cairo).

Cinema Cat: The animal actors in this movie completely steal the show, especially orange tabby cat actor Cairo.

Both Mr. Whiskers and Bosco were voiced by lead actor Ryan Reynolds for their speaking moments.

Mr. Whiskers has a very foul mouth and delights in berating Jerry, putting him down or demanding food.

When things spiral out of control and Jerry finds himself the perpetrator of a murder, Mr. Whiskers is quick to encourage him to kill even more.

While the film goes along stereotypical lines of the dog being good and kind and the cat being a psycho killer it can be forgiven in the context of the movie since the voice of the animals comes from Jerry himself.

The talking effects for the dog and cat were achieved by CGI animation done over the film of the animal actors.  The animal actors were also shot in individual takes and brought together in the same scenes with seamless editing.

Kitty Cameo: Lisa (Anna Kendrick), another of Jerry’s co-workers, has a crush on him and eventually she asks him over to her home.  We see her tuxedo cat Pighead (played by cat actor Spike) during this scene.

Final Mewsings: Cats can be killers but typically they don’t encourage other species to follow their example.

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