Cat Person (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – When Margot, a college sophomore goes on a date with the older Robert, she finds that IRL Robert doesn’t live up to the Robert she has been flirting with over texts. A razor-sharp exploration of the horrors of dating.

My Take – While it is easy to judge the route a film will take considering it opens with a quote “Men are scared women will laugh at them. Women are scared men will kill them”, what ends up being projected is ultimately a bit messier and less black/white.

Acting as an adaptation of Kristen Roupenian‘s viral 2017 New Yorker short story, about a college student’s brief unsettling relationship with an older man (who may or may not have cats), which managed to strike a chord especially with young women who are able to relate the headline-dominating #MeToo movement to their own uncomfortable experiences. In an era where we look more deeply at power dynamics and consent in relationships, the story gave readers a lot to talk about.

Given its promising premise, director Susanna Fogel (The Spy Who Dumped Me), and screenwriter Michelle Ashford (Operation Mincemeat) do explore the awkward, unsettling, and sometimes dangerous landscape of modern dating wittily and brilliantly. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the film divulges into the excitement seen in the early stages of a relationship only for the communication, expectation and reality to blow eventually up.

That is until, the third act kicks in and the film progresses past the point at which the original story ends, and everything unravels and spoils. Despite flashes of brilliance, from this point onward the narrative takes a jarring turn, veering away from the ambiguity and suspense that characterized the original story and instead opting for a more conventional, even melodramatic thriller approach.

This sudden shift in tone makes the experience jarring and ultimately undermines the film’s emotional core, all leading to an awkward end. Indeed, the film had undeniable potential.

It boasts strong performances, particularly from Emilia Jones, and a visually striking aesthetic. However, the film fails to recapture the potent ambiguity and unsettling dread that resonated with so many readers, ultimately leaving it feeling like a missed opportunity.

The story follows Margot (Emilia Jones), a diligent 20-year-old sophomore college student, who is specializing in anthropology and possesses a vivid imagination. One night, working part-time at the candy bar in an old-school local theater Margot finds herself drawn to an enigmatic tall stranger named Robert (Nicholas Braun), an older man who is clearly not good at small talk. Though, her ultra-feminist roommate Taylor (Geraldine Viswanathan) can’t understand why the attraction is there and tries to warn her off, Margot ends up exchanging numbers with Robert the next time he shows up.

Fantasizing about what could be, a relationship, of sorts, develops between the two, starting with text messages, but with an uncomfortable, unnatural feel to it. She’s younger, more attractive and has a confidence he doesn’t appear to. Yet there’s something magnetic or at least fascinatingly indefinable about him that presents itself via a series of push-and-pull texts. And when they finally go out on a date, the sparks don’t quite fly. A nagging unease settles in, hinting at something darker beneath Robert’s charming facade.

Clearly inspired the recent success of Promising Young Woman (2020) and Fresh (2022), here, director Susanna Fogel expertly navigates the film’s early scenes, capturing the awkward tension and anxieties that plague young love, allowing the audience to recall their experiences. Particularly, the things that men and women could say or do when they first start dating. Because Margot doesn’t actually know Robert that well, there are many things that are left unsaid or that she is unsure of.

She also leans into the inherent horror of it all with mixed results, through sequences of Margot imagining the violence Robert could inflict on her, nightmares about bloodthirsty Rottweilers and her long walks home in the dark. It’s more astute in its portrayal of a very female instinct to accommodate men’s feelings and how that then impacts issues of consent.

While it recognizes that men can pose a physical danger to women, it also recognizes that women can destroy men with mere allegations. But it’s all incorrect in some way, as their communication is mostly based on preconceptions, their own fears, or gender stereotypes that have been ingrained in them and dictate how one should behave when dating.

Without a doubt, the visual storytelling is the film’s strongest point. Cinematographer Manuel Billeter paints a stark portrait of Margot’s emotional world, using tight close-ups and muted color palettes to emphasis her growing isolation and fear. The score, a blend of unsettling electronic beats and melancholic piano melodies, further amplifies the film’s unsettling mood.

The standout sequence is a horribly well-realized sex scene between the pair, raising uncomfortably raising questions of why she let things progress so far. It’s in these harder-to-discuss, knottier moments that the film briefly shows how a successful adaptation should have worked.

Unfortunately, the final act is a misjudged misfire that undercuts everything that precedes it. Despite the notable flaws, I was mostly with the film until the ending played out, which lurches into ridiculous, full-blooded horror, turning the grounded suspense of the story literal. It’s a silly misjudgment with any of that previous, far scarier, unease replaced with in-your-face violence.

The real horror lies in the ambiguity, which the film is too willing to sacrifice for a meaningless thrill. The chillingly unanswered questions of the story are all given the most obvious answers imaginable and relatability is carelessly tossed aside, along with logic and investment.

It helps that Emilia Jones delivers a nuanced performance as Margot, portraying her vulnerability and growing unease with authenticity. Nicholas Braun has arguably the hardest persona to fill because you could hardly call Robert likeable. He is often distant, but Braun does best with what he can.

In a supporting role, Geraldine Viswanathan is a scene stealer with her forthright, take no prisoners attitude, while Fred Melamed, Isabella Rossellini, Liza Koshy and Michael Gandolfini are alright in small roles. On the whole, ‘Cat Person’ is a quirky, psychological drama that doesn’t realize its full potential.