Modern dating is fraught with not only the expectations to be a hot single in their area, you also have to be notable enough to be a 3 part TikTok storytime if it all goes wrong. Cat Person recounts a multipart TikTok tale with purposeful caricatures, a distinct lack of subtlety and a wildly controversial third act. Director Susanna Fogel and writer Michelle Ashford adapt a New Yorker short story by Kristen Roupenian. They do a creative adaptation, keeping the bones of the story while externalising the inner dialogue expressed in the original material. They teeter your opinions throughout the film, as you shift your empathy between both sides, having to face some of the ideologies we have about relationships. There is also a healthy amount of cringe in there to make you wince at the screen.
Margot (Emilia Jones) works at an arthouse theatre with a terrible sound system, bleeding into the lobby the entire time. She and her little bow tie work at the concession stand when one night she sees Robert (Nicholas Braun) walk in and order some snacks. She remarks that he’s tall, dark and handsome, in an Apatow movie type of way. So she awkwardly flirts with him while he picks up his popcorn. A little while later he comes back in, and asks her for her number, sparking up a text relationship that seems to be flourishing while she goes home during a gap in her college semester.
We see elements of this text relationship, and understand that they are both pretty into each other from the continuous pings back and forth. Once she is back, they arrange to do a real date, where she has some trepidation on the nature of his intentions, projecting some of her media literacy onto the relationship, expecting to be the next subject on Criminal Minds or a personal favourite, Castle. We see flashes of her inner thoughts, playing out as dream sequences where Robert gets aggressive or flips an emotional switch and becomes very menacing.
The date is not one that goes well, where they realise their age difference and there is zero connection between them in person. Out of some kind of social “obligation” Margot goes back to Robert’s house after the most uncomfortable kiss I have ever seen in my life. They flirt and awkwardly kiss again before moving things to the bedroom to have some more uncomfortable sex. There is a sequence here which I think is so universal and done so well where in which Margot questions her want for the sex. She internalises a conversation with herself, dissociating almost entirely from the moment.
After this pretty uncomfortable scene, Margot finds a way to tell Robert she doesn’t want to see him anymore before being hijacked in her approach by her roommate. This leads to a bit of a flip in Robert and a jittery flow into our third act.
The film’s tone is a little bit all over the place, at times being purposeful, blending a romantic comedy with a drama and sometimes a horror film. It is intentional to be a harsh switch but occasionally that does make it hard to sink into the story. While I didn’t feel any particular connection to either character, I feel that the point the film is trying to make is one of two sides, not being clear who you should be rooting for. I think the film could have made this balance a bit more clear with some of the decisions like simplicities in it’s characters. I do think that it gets it right in moments, where you question the broad strokes you paint your opinions with, but then taking those away by the ending. It does leave you a little bit with some of the questions but with the setup, I think it could have been executed a lot more ambiguously.
Some of the marketing for the film boasts that the film is there to start a conversation. I feel that there is a significant amount of nuance to the film, enough to start conversations, but the film draws enough conclusions that it also mostly finishes them before we as an audience get to have them.
Performances are pretty solid in this film, with the two main cast bringing what they needed to, especially Nicholas Braun who changes his face so much, making you feel polar opposites about him from shot to shot. Emila Jones is always lovely to watch, feeling grounded and relatable throughout.
The only performance I care about is Isabella Rossellini who reprises her role as an insect sex expert.
Other than those, we have some pretty weak side characters who don’t add a lot to the plot, with Margot’s roommate Taylor (Geraldine Viswanathan) being one I found to be pretty unlikeable. She is heavily feminist, but portrayed very extreme, in a way that alienates her from Margot. At times, it feels like she is a critique on feminism, in a really reductive way, that could fuel some already outspoken people.
Now let me be outspoken about the camera work, which I think does a really good job in putting you into the world, showing the physical difference in the two characters while not just opting for a lazy wide shot every time. The horror elements are also executed really well, with some creative editing and lighting helping to set the tone.
I did have an issue with the music for a lot of the film, almost seeming like an obligation or after thought in parts. Again, it worked in the horror sections as it heightened the brief tension and also was playing on cliches, so the classic horror movie music worked. We did get a Britney Spears needle drop during a late night walk home. There has never been a more relatable scene put to film.
I do think a lot of this film plays on relatability, not only for the experience of women in dating, but a lot of times, just general awkwardness of finding that connection. It also showcases some of the generational gaps that exist, sometimes bordering on an excuse for behaviours or approaches that do definitely exist. The main one being the over consumption of pornography, giving people an unrealistic view on sex, which leads to lack of satisfaction or communication.
I think snippets of this film are really great, it just doesn’t tie together as well as I would have liked it to, especially in it’s ending, which I don’t find as bad as others have made it out to be, but it definitely takes most of the subtext away, leaving you with pretty clear motives and the black and white morals of each character.
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