Trying to get back into Ciao but due to lack of sleep not sure how much i'll be about, just re-did m...
Trying to get back into Ciao but due to lack of sleep not sure how much i'll be about, just re-did my 'everything starts with a B' op, Mel x
Member since:30.12.2002
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I hate Uma Thurman; in fact she rates up there with my other hatred Cameron Diaz. Strangely enough though, these women appear in my 2 favourite films of all time. But alas, Miss Diaz we are not talking about today, it’s Miss Thurman and in this film she gave me a bigger reason to despise her – well if only for a little while <g>. Here’s my opinion on one of my favourite films of all time, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Mel xxx
• What’s it all about then? Dr. Abby Barnes (Janeane Garofalo) is a veterinarian with a radio show. It’s title, ‘The Truth about Cats and Dogs’. Callers can call in and have their pet care worries answered live on air. Brian (Ben Chaplin) is having a bad day with a photo shoot. He’s got a dog (Hank) from the pound that morning, popped roller skates on it and needless to say the dogs freaked out! With a psychotic dog looking something like Cujo he has only one option otherwise he may loose this photo shoot, phone Abby’s show and see if Abby can’t help. Abby’s amazing advice sparks off a friendship, but when Brian asks Abby out for a date (down to not knowing him and being extremely self conscious of her weight/height and size) she tells him she looks just like a model who lives in her building. After not showing up for the date and leaving him there he then goes to her work. Noelle (Uma Thurman) who lives in Abby’s building has a controlling manager/boyfriend and needs some confidence. Her and Abby become friends and after a conflicting argument with Noelle’s boyfriend and Abby, Abby’s
bow (of her violin) gets broken. The following day Noelle goes to Abby’s radio station to give her a new bow. At that point Brian turns up and sees Noelle thinking she is Abby, Abby convinces Noelle to play along for her sake. As the film progresses Abby who is now known as ‘Donna’ to Brian falls for Brian. Brian loves Abby on the phone and the way she talks to him, but he also loves Noelle’s body and looks. Noelle also starts to fall for Brian aswell. The film progresses and shows how friendship, love and all sorts of complications can affect life just from one lie. I’m not saying anymore about the film purely on the basis that if you haven’t seen it I don’t want to spoil it, the story holds it’s own and is a lot more fun going than I could explain.
• That boring information that I always put because ‘some’ people like to know it. Here’s the main casting list of the film… ‘Truth about Cats and Dogs’ was released in 1996. It was written by Audrey Wells and directed by Michael Lehmann. Janeane Garofalo plays Abby, a self conscious veterinarian who has her own radio show called ‘Truth about Cats and Dogs’. Ben Chaplin plays Brian, a photographer who takes photos for people and things to pay the rent but also has his own collection of black and white work (I took photography at school and some of the photos are amazing – sorry thought I’d add that). Uma Thurman plays Noelle, a (excuse the stereo type here I am using, models generally aren’t stupid and thick! My cousin is a model and is at University and very intelligent!) dim model who dreams of being a news reader. The running time of the film is 97 minutes; it was a 15 rated film in the UK, which means it is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15. The film doesn’t contain nudity but does have some sexual orientated subjects in it and bad language. There is no violence at all.
• Where can I buy it and how much? According to Kelkoo (http://www.kelkoo.co.uk) you can buy the film on the following formats for the following prices… SplashDVD (http://www.splashdvd.com) is selling it on DVD for £4.99 including postage and packing. DVDPlus (http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/dvdplus) is selling it on DVD for £6.95 including postage and packing. SplashDVD (http://www.splashdvd.com) is selling it on video (VHS) for £7.99 including postage and packing. Choices Direct (http://www.choicesdirect.co.uk) is selling it on video (VHS) for £12.74 including postage and packing. I had a lot of trouble buying it in the high street, online a lot of stores said they stocked it, but it meant ordering it in for me and would have been more expensive at the end of the day than buying off line. (I bought mine online from DVDPlus and it came within 2 days of ordering it!)
• My Final Conclusions on the Truth About Cats and Dogs. I love this film. Even though Uma Thurman is in it, I really enjoy it. It’s light, romantic, puts a lump in my throat as I really feel for Janeane Garofalo character (Abby). You can really relate to her in a lot of ways and although I hate Uma I have to say she really does play the part of Noelle well. In the end you like her, but half way through you want to smack her in the mouth a few times. Ben Chaplin is a bit wooden at first, I didn’t think the chemistry with him and Hank (The dog) worked, but as the film progresses it gets a lot better. His interaction with Uma and Janeane is great. You can see chemistry in 2 different forms which I think is a hell of a talent. The story isn’t too heavy; it’s not too hard going either. Half way in you really are wondering if it needs to speed up, but I feel the conflict between Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman needs to be long and dragged out to show its intensity. I don’t want to give the ending away, but I will say that it ends as it should, it isn’t totally believable mainly as I don’t think anyone has as lovely a dog as Hank is, but it isn’t that far fetched either. As romantic comedies go this is great, at times I would say it is more of a romantic drama as its not hilarious, but it’s not meant to be either. If you haven’t seen it, then do. I don’t think it’s too girlie girlie so it would be ok for the guys too. Enjoy it as I did, I’ll give it a 9 out of 10 and it only looses on for Uma as I hate the woman! Mel xx
• Where’d you get the title of this op from? Ok the title of this op springs from a line in the film. Janeane Garofalo is taking a call from a guy about his cat on the radio, he says how his cat has licked his face and now it has a rash, she follows up with, ‘And how long did this cat bath last?’ He then goes on to say it was a few hours! It just makes me laugh as her follow up comments are,’You can love your pets and then you can ‘love’ your pets!’
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![The Truth About Cats And Dogs [1996] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78539860.jpg "The Truth About Cats And Dogs [1996] [DVD]")
May 16th, 2003
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