Tomcats (2001)

Favorite Lines from the Movie:

"Doctor, don't eat that!"

Reviews:

Shankster

Well, after several strike outs we finally found a movie that didn't totally suck. Tomcats was funny and I really had several good laughs. Unfortunately I was still disappointed. The movie was nowhere near as raunchy, tasteless, and politically incorrect as I expected. Sure there were scenes that were gross, and at least one reason to laugh about prostate cancer (or get sick I'm not sure which.) But the movie fell short. It didn't go over the top, despite comments indicating that there would finally be some quality nudity in this film, there wasn't and it became a little sappy towards the end I suppose in an attempt to appeal to more people. I was a little nervous when my wife told me she was joining us for this one, but thankfully it was a movie that was tasteful and romantic enough that my wife had a good time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that despite some minor disappointment this was a pretty good and funny flick.

Batman

As a critic I want to see movies that have a coherent plot where well developed characters interact in a meaningful and logical way. As a person with notoriously bad taste I want to see movies that make me laugh at things I really never should have seen in the first place. The critic in me is appalled at this movie. The other half of me was delighted.

From a technical standpoint, Tomcats fails in almost every conceivable manner. The plot is razor thin and frequently makes so little sense that it would be insulting to plot holes to refer to this story's problems as such. Logic is nowhere to be found. In fact it grabbed plausibility and the two headed to the bar for some drinks because neither would be needed for a couple hours. Acting starts at really bad and soars as high as barely passable.

The story, for lack of a better word, centers around a group of single guys who have dubbed themselves the Tomcats. They fancy themselves lady killers and all grimace at the thought of matrimony. When one of them knuckles under and gets married, the rest make an elaborate bet. They will each contribute $200 annually to an aggressively invested fund. The last one of them to remain single will get the whole thing. This amount eventually rises somewhere near a half million dollars. Eventually there are only two men left, played by Jake Busey and Jerry O'Connoll. When O'Connoll's character loses brutally at the craps table and ends up owing a casino $50,000, he hatches a plan to trick Busey into marriage in order to win the pot and save his hide.

He discovers that Busey nearly fell for Shannon Elizabeth's character years earlier. He tracks her down and the two agree to split the winnings if she can marry him. Naturally the two of them fall for each other to complicate things.

The plot is really just there to hang endless gags on. For the most part the jokes work but you'd better not be expecting any degree of subtlety or taste. Tacky is the kindest way to describe most of the humor as there is no depth to which this movie won't sink to get a laugh. Think I'm kidding? Included in this movie is an extended joke centering around testicular cancer, a joke about having sex with a vomiting woman, and a stripper who can fire various size balls from her nether regions. Trust me, these are all handled with less class than you're imagining.

This movie provided me some much needed laughs and for that alone I will remember it fondly. Otherwise it's an unremarkable entry in a long string of gross out comedies. Despite what the ads might suggest about it as a sex comedy, there is almost no nudity to be found. There is cleavage galore but it's nothing more than you can find in a Victoria's Secret catalog. So if you're hoping for a lot of flesh, be prepared to be disappointed.

I admit that I laughed a lot at this movie but I can't say as I feel good about that. The movie is offensive on just about every level imaginable. If you're easily offended don't go anywhere near this movie. I'm very hard to offend and I spent as much time cringing as laughing during the movie. It should come as a shock to no one that the writer/director once had a successful career writing scripts for porno movies. I didn't even know they had scripts until I read that. It's hard to call something like 90 pages of moaning a script but more power to you if you can get someone to pay for that.

Sharky

OK. This movie was not good, but it did make us laugh. It was exactly what I needed. I am having a bad week, so I needed a good laugh and not have to think for a little while. This movie was perfect for that.

This movie is definately in bad taste. It is great to get a bunch of friends together to go see. If you have a lot of off color inside jokes this movie will hit home for you. The club found it to be very funny, especially since they could make fun of Shankster.