Catwoman is a whole different kind of three-star movie--one so blundering, so badly written, so ripped to shreds by the actors clawing the scenery, so pretentiously self-serious, and yet aware of its own off-the-charts camp value--that it's wildly entertaining for all the wrong reasons. Halle Berry prowls, hisses, struts, and scratches her way through this lavishly overproduced riff on Batman's kinkiest nemesis, in which the title character is not a Gotham villainess but just one of a string of women throughout history given special feline powers by cats descended from ancient Egyptian animal gods. But Berry's transformation comes only after she's been killed by henchmen for a cosmetics conglomerate when she discovers that their just-launched miracle face cream has terrifying hidden side effects. Honest. That's the plot. Although occasionally funny on purpose, Catwoman boasts so many hallmarks of unintentional high camp that they become impossible to ignore. And for Z-movie cachet, you can't beat the picture's preposterous catfight climax, in which Berry trades cartwheel kicks and laughably bad barbs ("Game over!" begets "Guess what? It's overtime!") with Sharon Stone, who may have finally found her career-comeback calling card as a larger-than-life queen bitch. A definite guilty pleasure, this is recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include the character history featurette “The Many Faces of Catwoman” (30 min.), hosted by Eartha Kitt, a 13-minute behind-the-scenes “making-of” featurette, six minutes of additional scenes, a trailer, and a DVD-ROM “Weblink to Catwoman's World.” Bottom line: a kitty-sized extras package for a catty guilty pleasure.] (R. Blackwelder)
Catwoman
Warner, 104 min., PG-13, VHS: $55.99, DVD: $27.95, Jan. 18 Volume 20, Issue 1
Catwoman
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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