Murder of a Cat

Murder of a Cat
Directed by	Gillian Greene
Produced by	Sam Raimi Ivan Orlic
Written by	Christian Magalhaes Robert Snow
Starring	Fran Kranz Nikki Reed J.K. Simmons Blythe Danner
Music by	Deborah Lurie
Cinematography	Christophe Lanzenberg
Release dates	April 24, 2014 (TFF)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Murder of a Cat is an American independent thriller/comedy film directed by Gillian Greene and starring Fran Kranz, Nikki Reed, J.K. Simmons, and Blythe Danner. The film premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

Synopsis

When someone murders his beloved cat, Clinton (Kranz), an adult child, demands justice. Taking it upon himself to solve the case, he teams up with an unlikely ally, Greta (Reed), and the two set out to find the culprit lurking in their small suburban town. But as Clinton searches for the truth, he begins to uncover a conspiracy that goes far deeper than he anticipated.

Cast

Actor	Role
Fran Kranz	Clinton
Nikki Reed	Greta
Greg Kinnear	Ford
J.K. Simmons	Sheriff Hoyle
Blythe Danner	Edie
Ted Raimi	Young Sheriff

Production

The screenplay was on the Hollywood "Black List" in 2010. Fran Kranz replaced Jay Baruchel in the lead role. The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, CA in 2013 by Seine Pictures and Raimi Productions.

Reception

The film was poorly received by critics. It currently has a 31 out of 100 on aggregate reviewer website Metacritic. Lead actor Kranz took a lot of the criticism along with Greene's direction.

Rex Reed of The New York Observer hated the film:

[T]his bucket of swill is so amateurish and confused it doesn’t know what it is. It’s not a comedy, drama or anything in-between. It’s best described as a bad California home movie... I saw it with three people. One walked out. The star of this dirge is a banana head named Fran Kranz, whose onscreen charisma is an undetectable secret. The benign direction is by Gillian Greene and the idiotic script is by Christian Magalhaes and Robert Snow.

Joe Neumaier of The New York Daily News had slightly more positive things to say about the film:

This is a perfect example of the kind of indie movie J.K. Simmons will hopefully never have to do again if he wins an Oscar for Whiplash. The veteran character actor is in just a few scenes here, as a local sheriff helping a very annoying fellow (Fran Kranz).

Sara Stewart of The New York Post gave the film more of a mixed review:

Heavy on quirk and light on wit, first-time director Gillian Greene’s comedy leans too heavily on the badly wigged Kranz, whose whiny and obsessive mannerisms make you wonder why Reed’s character shows any interest in him. Greene’s got a game supporting cast... but they’re all hampered by the screenplay’s lack of bite. Swing a dead cat here and you’ll hit a piece of limp dialogue.

External links

• Murder of a Cat at IMDb