James Bowen (Luke Treadaway) is a homeless man who's recovering from drug addiction and, in order to try and get by, he makes his money by busking in Covent Garden. After suffering a relapse, James is given one last lifeline by his drug counsellor Val (Joanne Froggatt) whom manages to acquire him some accommodation on the proviso that he cleans up his act. However, James' rocky road to recovery begins with the most unlikely of packages in the form of a stray cat named Bob...
Sometimes it is the simplest of films that are often the most effective and A Street Cat Named Bob is a good case in point. What we effectively have here is the story of a young man who has made some bad choices in life and is desperate to sort his life out and get clean. When a stray cat is introduced into his life this gives him something other than himself to focus his attention on and he basically chooses to put the cat before himself which of course makes him an endearing character - in spite of him being a recovering drug addict.
The other thread to the story is James' developing friendship with Betty (Ruta Gedmintas) which basically gives James an insight into what a normal existence could be like; one gets the impression that he probably hadn't had too many healthy influences in his life for quite some time up till this point. The friendship played out between Gedmintas and Treadaway is sweet and the pair have a wonderful, easy-going chemistry about them.
One of the main standout points in this film is Luke Treadaway who takes us on this emotional journey as the real life James Bowen in wonderful fashion - his commitment and dedication is evident on screen and he is never less than 100% convincing (this is made all the better when you remember that he probably spends half of the film talking to a cat).
As good as this film is I think it's fair to say that it has one or two weak spots; the thread with Bowen's parents seemed to be clumsily thrown into the story without much real thought or development and I couldn't help but feel that the film wouldn't have been any different if they weren't mentioned at all? The screenplay is also a bit safe and clinical; for example in its early stages virtually every problem that Bowen encountered was able to be resolved without too many issues yet in the latter stages of the film everything seems to go wrong for him despite his best efforts to get his life on track. I can only assume that this approach has been employed to make the picture more dramatic, but it does render some aspects of the picture to be somewhat unbelievable. The same approach seems to have been adopted with Bowen dealing with his drug addiction making the narrative feel slightly uneven at times.
Still this is a very good film that is funny, heart-warming, uplifting and inspirational and just goes to show that anyone can turn their life around if they have the desire to do so. In spite of some of its weaknesses, it is still a film that's brimming with both positivity and likability.
Sometimes it is the simplest of films that are often the most effective and A Street Cat Named Bob is a good case in point. What we effectively have here is the story of a young man who has made some bad choices in life and is desperate to sort his life out and get clean. When a stray cat is introduced into his life this gives him something other than himself to focus his attention on and he basically chooses to put the cat before himself which of course makes him an endearing character - in spite of him being a recovering drug addict.
The other thread to the story is James' developing friendship with Betty (Ruta Gedmintas) which basically gives James an insight into what a normal existence could be like; one gets the impression that he probably hadn't had too many healthy influences in his life for quite some time up till this point. The friendship played out between Gedmintas and Treadaway is sweet and the pair have a wonderful, easy-going chemistry about them.
One of the main standout points in this film is Luke Treadaway who takes us on this emotional journey as the real life James Bowen in wonderful fashion - his commitment and dedication is evident on screen and he is never less than 100% convincing (this is made all the better when you remember that he probably spends half of the film talking to a cat).
As good as this film is I think it's fair to say that it has one or two weak spots; the thread with Bowen's parents seemed to be clumsily thrown into the story without much real thought or development and I couldn't help but feel that the film wouldn't have been any different if they weren't mentioned at all? The screenplay is also a bit safe and clinical; for example in its early stages virtually every problem that Bowen encountered was able to be resolved without too many issues yet in the latter stages of the film everything seems to go wrong for him despite his best efforts to get his life on track. I can only assume that this approach has been employed to make the picture more dramatic, but it does render some aspects of the picture to be somewhat unbelievable. The same approach seems to have been adopted with Bowen dealing with his drug addiction making the narrative feel slightly uneven at times.
Still this is a very good film that is funny, heart-warming, uplifting and inspirational and just goes to show that anyone can turn their life around if they have the desire to do so. In spite of some of its weaknesses, it is still a film that's brimming with both positivity and likability.