Parents' Guide to

Murder of a Cat

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Forgettable, unfunny indie whodunit is fairly violent.

Movie NR 2014 96 minutes
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It's a shame to see Simmons, Danner, Kinnear, and even the two familiar-but-not-top-tier stars wasted in this disappointing first feature by Gillian Greene. (Greene is perhaps better known in Hollywood as the wife of acclaimed director/producer Sam Raimi.) Written by former New Girl scribes Christian Magalhaes and Robert Snow, Murder of a Cat lacks zinging wordplay and eccentric but lovable characterization. Instead, Clinton is just plain unlikable for the majority of the film, and the dialogue is stilted and bland.

There's zero chemistry between Clinton and Greta, so their predictable budding romance is completely unbelievable. And when the story shifts gears and turns into a strangely violent whodunit, the attempts at humor seem misguided. The esteemed older members of the cast are so far beyond this movie, you have to wonder whether they agreed to star in it out of friendship to Greene and Raimi. Regardless of why award-winning actors would agree to make this independent movie, they can't save it, and it's best if potential viewers just skipped it altogether and checked out the cast's far better films.

Movie Details

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