Line #16 Film/ATalkingCat


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_talking_cat.png]]
2	->'''Phil:''' You can talk? But only once?\
3	'''Duffy:''' I don't make the rules, Phil.[[note]][[Podcast/{{Rifftrax}} Bill]]: Or explain why there are rules, or where the rules come from.[[/note]]
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5	''A Talking Cat!?!'' (yes, with that '''exact''' interrobang punctuation) is a 2013 "family comedy" film directed by Creator/DavidDecoteau about... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a talking cat]] who helps a couple of families with their problems.
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7	Duffy (Creator/EricRoberts) is a stray cat with the ability to talk to any person once, but ''only'' once. When he comes across Phil (Johnny Whitaker), a respected programmer who's recently entered retirement, and Susan (Kristine [=DeBell=]), a caterer who's trying to keep her business and family together, he decides to help them and their families. [[PlayedForLaughs Hilarity ensues...]] or, at least, it ''tries'' to ensue, anyway.
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9	Made on a budget of $1 million,[[note]]To put that in perspective, ''Film/FruitvaleStation'' cost $900,000 to produce.[[/note]] the film nonetheless features amateurish camera, sound and special effects, is largely confined to two houses and Roberts sounds like he's recording his lines through a burner phone in a public bathroom.[[note]]It was later discovered that Roberts recorded all of his dialogue in his living room in ''15 minutes''.[[/note]] Creator/NathanRabin [[http://www.avclub.com/article/ia-talking-cat-iis-ithe-roomi-of-anthropomorphic-a-93563 called it]] "''Film/{{The Room\|2003}}'' of [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative anthropomorphic animal movies starring Eric Roberts]]" and wondered "where the other $990,000 went".
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11	In 2014, the film was covered on bad-film-review podcasts ''Podcast/TranquilTirades'' ([[http://www.earth-2.net/podcasts/tranquiltirades/tranquiltirades.php episode 28]]) and ''Podcast/TheFlopHouse'' ([[https://www.flophousepodcast.com/2014/09/episode-161-a-talking-cat/ episode 161]]). WebVideo/JonTron and WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m76z5mgv5_A did reviews]] [[http://www.thecinemasnob.com/the-cinema-snob/a-talking-cat of the film]] in 2016. In August 2018, it was targeted by PodCast/RiffTrax, and it was the subject of a 2021 ''Podcast/HowDidThisGetMade'' episode ''and'' a ''Podcast/WeHateMovies'' syncable commentary track.
12	----
13	!!''A Troping Cat!?!'':
14	%%* CampStraight: Chris and Trent. This '''is''' a David [=DeCoteau=] film, after all.
15	* CatsAreSnarkers: Duffy, dead straight. Nearly every time he's in a shot and given lines, he makes snarky comments. Also helps he's played by a deadpan Eric Roberts.
16	* CelebrityResemblance: Phil's resemblance to Creator/RodneyDangerfield has been the butt of many a reviewer's joke.
17	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Duffy talks to Tina for the first time, she tries explaining to her mom, who is only confused that there's a cat there in the first place, ''completely ignoring'' Tina's claims that Duffy, you know, ''spoke'' to her.
18	* ConflictBall:
19	** It's not really clear why Phil and Chris are having problems. Phil acts a perfectly friendly and loving father, albeit a slightly eccentric one. Yet for most of the film, Chris is weirdly hostile towards him, talking to him as if he's a deadbeat jerkass. Based on some dialogue early on, the intent appears to have been that Phil prioritized work over family (e.g., Chris opining he had enough money to retire years ago, Phil saying they can finally take some trips that had been put off), but the rest portrays him as a rather attentive parent fully involved in his son's life, making Chris's hostility this.
20	** There's also Susan absolutely hysterical when Phil accidentally drops some food she made, which seems to happen solely to keep the "plot" going.
21	* CoversAlwaysLie: The cat on the cover is not the cat in the actual film. It's the same breed, but the one on the cover is clearly a kitten with blue eyes while the one in the movie is an adult cat, is a little bit fat, and has yellow-green eyes. At least the [=RiffTrax=] poster [[https://www.rifftrax.com/a-talking-cat has the correct cat]].
22	* CreativeClosingCredits: When the movie ends, there's a montage of clips of each major actor. During the regular credits, assorted clips of the cat are spliced in.
23	* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Duffy's magic collar suddenly has healing powers.]]
24	* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:The car that hits Duffy.]][[note]]There is an attempt at foreshadowing it with the same car nearly running over Phil (and Susan remarking that the driver "drives way too fast") earlier in the movie, but it happens so suddenly with Duffy that it becomes this.[[/note]]
25	* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: See GratuitousSpanish below. "Pinche" is quite a bit stronger than the costuming department thought, if anyone there could actually speak Spanish at all.
26	* DullSurprise: Duffy, which is what happens when your voiceover actor records ''all'' of his lines in ''15 minutes'' in his ''living room''.
27	* {{Fanservice}}: Trent teaching Chris to swim. Two [[PrettyBoy handsome]] shirtless guys in a pool with [[GuyOnGuyIsHot not so subtle]] homoeroticism.
28	* GratuitousSpanish: At one point, Phil is wearing a shirt that says "UN PINCHE DIA A LA VEZ" - "One [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] day at a time". This in an otherwise wholesome movie.
29	* HomemadeInventions: Tina invents a computer program that somehow analyzes clothing and makes suggestions of outfits to wear. Ignoring the utter impracticality of such a hypothetical program, it shouldn't be overlooked that the peripheral device attached to this program to "identify" clothes is, in fact, ''a booklight''.
30	* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:After recovering, Duffy remarks he's chosen to stay with the merged family]].
31	* LampshadeHanging: [[spoiler:Even Duffy isn't sure why and how his collar healed his injuries. He wonders if it just gave him the nine lives that cats are always said to have.]]
32	* MagicAIsMagicA: Averted. After [[spoiler:Duffy gets hit by a car]], Trent suggests they dig up the magical collar that lets him talk, despite being given no indication it has healing powers. [[spoiler:It works.]]
33	* ManChild: Phil, who cheerfully plays with a car-shaped chair and makes car noises.
34	* TheMatchmaker: Duffy gets two couples together (Frannie/Chris and Phil/Susan).
35	* MeetCute: Attempted and failed. Kinda played straight (in the loosest sense of the word "straight") with Chris and Trent.
36	* MirrorMonologue: By Phil.
37	* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler:Duffy getting hit by a car and critically injured right in the middle of a typical cutesy scene.]] It comes so far out of left field that you'd be forgiven for thinking someone altered your copy of the film.
38	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Duffy's collar, being inexplicably given [[spoiler:healing powers to make him recover from being ran over]].
39	* PairTheSpares: Frannie seems to exist solely to pair Chris off with someone.
40	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Played loudly and incessantly repeated on a electronic keyboard. "La Cucaracha", in particular, is recognizable.
41	* RandomEventsPlot: There's no real narrative structure, which seems to shamble from one scene to the next.
42	* RichBoredom: Phil starts out freshly retired and unsure what to do with all his free time. Duffy suggests he start taking walks so that he'll meet Susan.
43	* SceneryPorn: There's lots of long {{Establishing Shot}}s of forests and the like. It also causes some continuity/logic issues; Phil and Chris switch between living near an arid desert/beach, yet are somehow neighbors to Susan and her kids, who appear to live in the Pacific Northwest.
44	* SiblingRivalry: Tina and Trent, taken to an absurd degree. These two high-school-aged siblings bicker at each other in a manner that even kindergarteners would find immature.
45	* ShirtlessScene: As mentioned above, the scene in-which Trent teaches Chris how to swim.
46	* StockFootage: Several shots of empty rooms, house exteriors and surrounding woodlands and wildlife, which director David [=DeCoteau=] inserts and reuses in most all his movies filmed in these same locations. All told, there are 59 establishing shots in this 83-minute feature, and none of them have any logical place in the context of the film.
47	* TalkingAnimal: Three guesses, no prizes. It's even part of a ''series'' of talking animal movies by David [=DeCoteau=] under a pseudonym, as [[WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob the Snob]] points out.[[labelnote:list]](''The Great Halloween Puppy Adventure'' came out in 2012, this very movie was made in 2013, while ''An Easter Bunny Puppy'' and ''A Talking Pony!?!'' were released later that same year.)[[/labelnote]]
48	* TitleDrop: Occurs at several points, some more forced than others.
49	* TheUnfavourite: Tina's an interesting example in that she's actually the ''over''achiever compared to her brother.
50	* UnknownCharacter: The driver of the car that comes out of nowhere, nearly hitting Phil [[spoiler:and later Duffy, who isn't so lucky in particular]], is never shown in full outside of a barely visible figure when the car enters the shot. %%[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Though it wouldn't have helped the scene much anyway with how oddly edited and out of place it is.]]
51	** As is Duffy's previous owner, as mentioned below.
52	* VocalDissonance: Eric Roberts as Duffy the Cat. Special points for his "nom nom nom" noises when the cat eats.
53	* VoodooShark: As pointed out by [=RiffTrax=], who makes the rule that Duffy can only speak to humans once?
54	* AWizardDidIt: Apparently, a previous owner of Duffy's gave him a magic collar, which is how he's able to speak. [[spoiler:It also revives him from serious injury.]]

Context Film / ATalkingCat