Movie Review: Tomcats
Jerry O'Connell, who plays Michael Delaney, a studly, likeable, cartoonist in "Tomcats," says his role "is what we call NAN: No Acting Necessary". Playing a player who is a good-hearted womanizer was "almost autobiographical". While kissing foxy Shannon Elizabeth ("American Pie" and "Scary Movie"), O'Connell had to remind himself that he was in a movie. Every young guy's dream job. ------------ When a bunch of horny single buds see the first of their gang married, they make a pact. Everyone will kick in some money (to be wisely invested) and the last bachelor standing years hence will collect the pot. Seven years later the "pot" is a gold mine of half a million bucks and only two of the guys are un-hitched. Michael Delaney (Jerry O'Connell) badly needs to win since he owes a Vegas casino mogul (Bill Maher) 51 thou from a gambling spree. His competition is Kyle (Jake Busey) a sworn sex machine who looks like he'll never settle down.
With 30 days remaining until he's toast, Michael decides to find the only woman Kyle might have married, Natalie (Shannon Elizabeth) and convince her to marry his buddy. Natalie, a feisty undercover cop, agrees, as long as she gets half of the money! The romance seems to progress, as does Michael's attraction to Natalie. She seems to be into him as well but with Vegas thugs selling off all his belongings and breathing down his neck, Michael is still determined to pair Natalie with Kyle.
It looks like Kyle will repeat his life-long pattern, use Natalie and throw her away but an oddly comic bout with cancer convinces him that he might want a family after all. The wedding is on and as time runs out, Michael realizes he may win the bet but lose the woman he loves. His comic efforts to stop the wedding launch Michael on the town wearing nothing but "horny devil" boxers and a fur-trimmed leopard bathrobe (don't ask). ----------------- Guys betting on who will bag a babe or, in this case, avoid wedded bliss, is nothing new but this fast-paced, raunchy comedy takes sex farce to a new level. Action sequences are both gross and hilarious and usually quite inventive. Jerry O'Connell turns out to be an excellent physical comedian with some great timing and Jake Busey is a riot as the womanizing jerk we love to hate. A surprise casting turn that also works well is "Politically Incorrect's" Bill Maher as a Vegas Crime Tzar named "Carlos." Shannon Elizabeth is both vulnerable and tough as she switches from gun toting cop on the job to woman in love.
In an unusual move, the studio teamed with mediatrip.com to cast featured extra roles; letting visitors vote for their favorite actresses. Several young women nationwide were placed in the film. The soundtrack rocks and there are cute cartoons running under the opening credits. Don't leave early or you'll miss some wacky outtakes playing during the end credit crawl and the wrap up of a little sub plot, involving talented "Road Trip" and "Saturday Night Live" actor Horatio Sanz, that runs throughout the film.
The "R" rating here is well-deserved. Gorgeous bods abound and younger audiences should be warned that thong-clad or nothing-clad posteriors (both male and female) appear in abundance. Raunchy dialogue also pushes the envelope for this kind of film. On the downside, making fun of a serious form of cancer might be crossing the line and a few scenes that target overweight women are both hackneyed and cruel. Overall, however, "Tomcats" is a guilty pleasure that, unlike many recent teen comedies, successfully mixes physical comedy and gross out laughs and keeps them coming.
