Tomcats

If you have a low tolerance for sex jokes, then perhaps you shouldn’t dash right out to see “Tomcats,” a new comedy that may have more on its mind than sex, but not much more. By turns raunchy, crude, and just plain funny, the movie sets its sights low and hits the mark. Although it has a loose, easy feel (which is decidedly not the same as sloppy), it never loses sight of its story. And while that story may focus at great length on the collective idiocy of men, and ridicule them for their weaknesses, at its heart it is more ready to believe in true love then most. It just may take a few misadventures to find it. Gregory Poirier, who wrote the script and also makes his directing debut, delivers high energy and high spirits, with the help of an appealing cast. The picture, for all its crudeness, is always good natured. Even at its most raunchy, “Tomcats,” is never mean spirited, and even the bad guys (who aren’t all that bad) poke more fun at themselves than at others. The story starts seven years ago, when a group of pals formed a betting pool that would be won by the last man to get married.

Flash forward to the present, and all but two are out of the running. The survivors are Mike (O’Connell), a cartoonist and all around nice guy, and Kyle (Busey), an unrepentant womanizer. O’Connell is handsome (he resembles Tom Cruise in his younger days, and the movie even contains a funny send up of Cruise’s rock climbing exploits in MI:2), but he also displays an admirable willingness to look ridiculous for the sake of the movie. When Mike runs into a spot of money trouble with a Vegas casino owner (a droll Bill Maher), he figures that the only way he can extricate himself is to get Kyle married, thereby collecting the pot (now up to about a half million bucks). The task seems hopeless, but then Mike remembers Kyle talking about Natalie, the one girl he truly loved. Mike decides to reunite Kyle and Natalie, hoping that lightning will strike again. He succeeds in locating Natalie (Shannon Elizabeth, who rises above the status of mere eye candy here with a decent comic performance), who, for reasons of her own, agrees to participate in the scheme.

What neither she nor Mike counted on is that they would fall for each other. The rest of the movie is devoted to Mike’s scheme to get Kyle married, along with the requisite subplots about sperm banks, testicular cancer, and a librarian who is not quite what she seems. Admittedly these gags are a bit extraneous, but their utter silliness is infectious. In the happy go lucky ending, everyone makes out just fine, getting pretty much what they want. “Tomcats” will no doubt offend some, but there are enough jokes so that most viewers will find something to laugh at. While the profanity is nonstop, surprisingly, despite the titillating ads, there is no nudity, save for a couple of shots of male posteriors, both played for laughs. I am not going to sit here and try to tell you that “Tomcats” is great cinema, or even that anyone will remember it in six months.But not every movie has to be profound. Sometimes it is enough just to get the audience laughing. Poirier and his cast know what they are after, and they go out and get it with admirable conviction. (4/9/2001) Top