This movie has been getting one bad rap after another since it was released, and after finally seeing it, I'm still trying to figure out why. Most of the pieces are in place for at least a decent movie, and it's a little strange that this movie has done so poorly in the box office while other movies such as American Pie 2 have done so well. The cast is pretty decent, highlighted by Jake Busey, Jerry O'Connell and Shannon Elizabeth, and the writing and directing weren't THAT bad. The story is that of Michael Delaney (O'Connell). He loses big in Vegas and has to come up with a lot of money very quickly, and the only way to do it is to collect on an old bet. When younger, a group of his friends made a bet and all began contributing to the pot. The last one to be married would win the pot, and by this time, the pot has gotten quite large. The two remaining bachelors are Michael and his good friend Kyle, and since Kyle is rich and has a very active sex life, Michael thinks nothing of cheating his friend out of the bet. The only thing to do, to save his hide from the Vegas loan sharks, is set Kyle up to be married before his loan comes due. He finds an old friend of Kyle's, Natalie Parker (Shannon Elizabeth) and convinces her to help him win the bet. Together they must convince the bachelor who never wants to marry, to do just that.
I know the plot sounds kind of lame, but the telling of the story wasn't all that bad, and there were plenty of laughs interspersed throughout the movie to keep you entertained. The acting wasn't what you might call impressive, but Shannon Elizabeth sure makes it hard to take your eyes off her and will easily please her growing fan base. It's not the greatest sex comedy ever made, but it was easily better than most of the reviews it was receiving.
I think the one thing that doomed this movie was the amount of sexual content contained in it. It was definitely enough to get an R Rating, but not nearly enough to please the American Pie crowd. Had they toned the movie down and gotten a PG13 Rating, I think the movie would have done better, because expectations wouldn't have been so high and more of the audience it was geared towards would have been able to watch it. But I also think the movie would have done better had there been more sexual content. While the crowds weren't flocking in droves to see this, the ones that did would have been happier with the results. When you see a sex comedy, you expect to see a lot of sex and a lot of comedy, and this just didn't have it. This was more of the soft R Rated material and that had to disappoint a lot of the people who saw it. The producers and director would have done much better to either go for broke with the R Rating, or cut it down enough to get the PG13, but they really hurt themselves by staying in the middle of the road.
That said, I enjoyed watching Tomcats. I wasn't convinced that it was going to be a bad movie, and I was pretty happy with the results. There were enough things there to keep me entertained and I had a good time. If you are expecting American Pie 1.5, then this won't satisfy you, because it's just not up to those standards. If you are just looking for a funny movie to keep you laughing for a couple of hours, then you might want to take a chance on this one, but don't believe the hype, it's not THAT bad.
I know the plot sounds kind of lame, but the telling of the story wasn't all that bad, and there were plenty of laughs interspersed throughout the movie to keep you entertained. The acting wasn't what you might call impressive, but Shannon Elizabeth sure makes it hard to take your eyes off her and will easily please her growing fan base. It's not the greatest sex comedy ever made, but it was easily better than most of the reviews it was receiving.
I think the one thing that doomed this movie was the amount of sexual content contained in it. It was definitely enough to get an R Rating, but not nearly enough to please the American Pie crowd. Had they toned the movie down and gotten a PG13 Rating, I think the movie would have done better, because expectations wouldn't have been so high and more of the audience it was geared towards would have been able to watch it. But I also think the movie would have done better had there been more sexual content. While the crowds weren't flocking in droves to see this, the ones that did would have been happier with the results. When you see a sex comedy, you expect to see a lot of sex and a lot of comedy, and this just didn't have it. This was more of the soft R Rated material and that had to disappoint a lot of the people who saw it. The producers and director would have done much better to either go for broke with the R Rating, or cut it down enough to get the PG13, but they really hurt themselves by staying in the middle of the road.
That said, I enjoyed watching Tomcats. I wasn't convinced that it was going to be a bad movie, and I was pretty happy with the results. There were enough things there to keep me entertained and I had a good time. If you are expecting American Pie 1.5, then this won't satisfy you, because it's just not up to those standards. If you are just looking for a funny movie to keep you laughing for a couple of hours, then you might want to take a chance on this one, but don't believe the hype, it's not THAT bad.