Tomcats

Isn’t the gross-out premise getting tired. It seems that the only comedy Hollywood is ready to finance these days involves one dimensional characters and shallow plot lines, all put together in attempt after attempt to sell tickets through notoriety alone. Ostensibly the goal of each new film seems only to out-gross the last. At least we seem to be seeing the death rattles: Tomcats - a film by first-time director Gregory Poirier.

The plot, as it is, goes something like this. The ‘Tomcats’, a bunch of twenty-something career bachelors, make a pact to reward the last one of them to remain single. To this end, they each make a $1000 contribution into a kitty. A few years, a few marriages, and a few wise investments later, and the kitty has reached the staggering sum of $500,000. Better still, only two Tomcats remain in the running, Michael (Jerry O'Connell) and Kyle (Jake Busey).

On a trip to Las Vegas for yet another Tomcat wedding, Michael racks up an enormous debt trying desperately to impress a beautiful woman. Without a penny to his name, Michael’s only chance of seeing his next birthday is to get hands on the Tomcat's kitty. And so Michael hatches a plan to marry Kyle off, tracking down the only girl Kyle ever felt close to. This turns out to be the beautiful policewoman Natalie (Shannon Elizabeth), who still carries a grudge against Kyle from their all-to-brief night together. And so the two begin to scheme.

Ok as light, light, light entertainment goes, Tomcats really isn’t that bad a way to spend an hour and a half, and contains some truly funny moments that had me laughing out loud. But behind the movie’s three or four funny situations there’s absolutely nothing else. Unlike others in the genre (most notably There’s Something About Mary) the ‘plot’ in Tomcats (for want of a better word) exists only as a vehicle for the gags, forsaking all else. At the end of the film you are left empty and unfulfilled.

Tomcat’s other downfall is that none of the characters are particularly likable. In particular, the two male leads are complete misogynists. By the end of the film, I couldn’t care less if Michael was killed over his debts or not. To tell you the truth, I would have welcomed it. This isn’t helped by the laughable acting; the only exception being the undeniably sweet Shannon Elizabeth who even manages to generate a little empathy for her chronically one dimensional character. With spectacularly bad performances from O’Connell and Busey (following admirably in his father’s footsteps), Elizabeth’s modest talents appear almost Shakespearian.

Presented on a single-sided single layer disc at a ratio of 1.85:1, there’s no doubt that Columbia-Tristar have done a great job with the transfer. Although the film will not be winning any awards for cinematography, Tomcats looks fantastic on DVD, with all the technical attributes we have come to expect. We’re presented with an anamorphic image that is sharp as a tack with plenty of detail, has vivid colours that literally leap off the screen, displays spot on black level and great shadow detail. There are only a few very minor things worthy of note. There is a very small amount of film grain around the start of reels 1 and 2 (that I did not even notice first time through), and the sharp image suffers from a small amount of aliasing in one or two spots. Edge enhancement is prolific throughout, but it’s mostly subtle and will annoy only the most anal of DVD aficionados. There are no compression artefacts at all to be seen – all in all a fantastic job.

Similarly, Tomcats presents us with an impressive audio experience that’s at the top of its genre. We are presented with quite an aggressive Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, with options for English or French. Right from the outset we are bombarded with a high-energy soundtrack featuring the likes of The Offspring, and Blink 182 that is mixed well between the front and rears. As far as sound effects go we are treated to more than is typical of the genre, including a loud and lively gun-battle that allows the subwoofer to wake up and bark. In most scenes a good level of ambient sound is provided, creating quite an immerse sound-stage. Street and casino scenes are stand-outs in this respect.

Of course at the end of the day comedies like this are dialogue-centric and, rounding out the well crafted soundtrack, there are no problems here either. At all times the dialogue is clear and distinct, and lip-sync is never an issue.

In keeping with the high production values lavished on the disc, Tomcats has been nicely furnished with colourful, animated menus that are 16x9 enhanced. A portion of the over-driven soundtrack plays in the background.

With only a single-sided single layer disc to fill, and with such a nice transfer, you might expect the extras to be pretty light on. And you’d be right. What we do get are filmographies for the writer-director and young stars of the film, and Theatrical Trailers for Tomcats as well as 2 other Columbia Tristar releases. Not very inspiring to say the least. Although I can’t say that a director’s commentary would have interested me (and it would surprise me if he had anything interesting to say anyway), we are given a taste of some bloopers during the end credits, and I’m sure there must be a lot more of these on some cutting room floor somewhere.

Compared to the Region 1 release, we don’t miss out on anything of note.

Tomcats represents very light entertainment that, once the initial surprises have been sprung and the gross-outs are accomplished, will not provide much re-watch potential. That’s not to say there aren’t some laughs here to be had. If the idea of watching a cancer-ridden testicle being chased through a busy hospital sounds funny to you (OK, I admit I’m grinning as I write this), then Tomcats is worth checking out. There is no doubt that Columbia have done a great job with the transfer, but if you haven’t seen the film before, I would definitely recommend renting before buying.