Catfight

This certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea but I quite enjoyed the sheer nihilistic futility of it all. Catfight is certainly original and takes on a narrative that keeps you guessing right to the end. There are some great digs at the pretentiousness of modern art and some gloriously violent fight scenes. You may hate it but it's definitely worth a try if you enjoy black comedy.

'CATFIGHT': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An action-comedy written and directed by veteran indie filmmaker Onur Tukel. It stars Sandra Oh and Anne Heche as two women involved in a very bitter, and sometimes extremely violent, lifelong rivalry. The movie costars Alicia Silverstone, Amy Hill, Giullian Yao Gioiello, Craig Bierko and Dylan Baker. It had a limited release in indie theaters, and on video on demand, and now it's available to rent on video. It's a crazy film, but surprisingly insightful (in a really dark and twisted way).

Veronica Salt (Oh) and Ashley Miller (Heche) were friends in college, but they drifted apart over the years. Veronica is now a wealthy housewife, with a teenage son (Gioiello). Ashley is now a struggling artist, that's trying to conceive a child with her girlfriend (Silverstone). When the two meet at a party, after not seeing each other for several years, they immediately start judging and offending each other. Then the insults turn into a violent (and very bloody) brawl, that leaves the two in a bitter grudge match for many years to come.

The film is definitely funny, but in a really disturbing and gloomy way. It's also very violent, in a very shocking and unsettling way as well. The script is pretty clever though, and the two lead performances are both great in it. It's a hard movie to watch at times, and it doesn't leave you feeling very positive about things when it's over, but it is a very interesting and insightful film too. I would definitely still recommend it.

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There's a really good movie in here, trying to escape and transcend the trashy selling point of girl-on-girl violence. When it comes, it is shocking and over-extended, in a way that can only mean someone is getting a kick out of it, thus cheapening the film and taking it perilously close to Russ Meyer, "Faster, Pussycat" territory. Then there's the lesbian couple, who don't get violent but who do a lot of tongues, again unnecessary and overdone. Underneath it all is a fresh and original take on family relations, mother-daughter jealousy, pseudiness in the art scene, etc.

A weird and twisted character study of self absorbed, clueless narcissists ad nauseum.

I know, it's supposed to be a clever dark comedy, but having actually encountered more than a few examples of the very characters portrayed here in the real world, it was more like watching the equivalent of experiencing nails on a chalkboard.

I'm not knocking the film, or caliber of acting and direction, quite the contrary. As a film, it's actually a very well created production.

As a sort of snapshot into a world which really exists (well, sort of), perhaps it's a bit too realistic for comfort.

OK, the art gallery fight scene was more than a bit over the top.

Not to deliver any spoilers here, but perhaps an apt description could be summarized as a spectacular reversal of fortune story, mapped into a bizarre parallel universe of quirky characters and seemingly impossible scenarios which are actually all too real, depending upon which version of reality one might encounter at some seemingly random moment.

Not sure how to rate this, might not be for everyone, but it is definitely unique. A cautious seven stars . . .

Raaaaaaaooooh! Yes, there is a "Catfight" going on (even more than one), and it lasts a long time. The black & blue comedy "Catfight" stars Sandra Oh and Anne Heche as two former college frenemies who reunite and end up knocking the lights out of each other. Sandra Oh plays Veronica, a trophy wife who is against her teenage son's wishes of becoming an artist. Anne Heche plays Ashley, a struggling lesbian artist who moonlights as a caterer. When Veronica and Ashley unexpectedly see each other at Veronica's husband business party, the claws come out and they both end up in some sort of violent punch drunk love; OK, maybe not love. Consequently, there is a punch domino effect of their brawl and brawls that turn each others life completely around; which I won't spoil cause you will punch me in the face. Writer-Director Onel Turkel pulls no punches in directing the movie with "over the top" farce; which sometimes pleasures your guilty bones while at other times it's too much to take. Nevertheless, I strangely was compelled by the antics of "Catfight"; especially with one particular scene with Veronica's looney aunt who names trees. Both Oh and Heche were excellent in their energetic roles. However, Alicia Silverstone as Ashley's lesbian lover seemed clueless to me. "Catfight" will not make it to 9 lives of reinvention but it's still worth the punch. **** Good