The idea behind Cat Daddies is sort of an admirable one, but before we even get to the movie’s unfortunate shortcomings, there is also a whiff of the patronizing in its intentions. Early on, the human subjects of director Mye Hoang’s documentary make a great deal of pointing out that a man-feline relationship bucks the typical expectations of a “masculine” stereotype – namely, the old adage about which animal is man’s best friend. The other side of such an argument, of course, is that having those expectations of the male half of the population is far stranger than any adult man finding himself growing closer to cats than to dogs. Perhaps it’s technically true, but only from a certain standpoint. It certainly isn’t worth pointing out.
The sentiment sours what follows the opening salvo in this film, which basically amounts to more than an hour’s worth of introductions, a few updates to each story and a haphazardly tacked-on thesis statement. Judging the methods of a documentary is just as important as recognizing the worthiness of the story it’s telling. Here, Hoang packs the film with as many stories as she could possibly use to fill 89 minutes. Some of them may well be worthy of being told in a documentary format, but there is not nearly enough time to give us a sense of these people as more than curiosities within the context of their relationships with their pet cats.
The result is a film that rushes through stories with no regard for their meaning beyond basic qualification for this subject. One such example follows Josh, a professional truck driver who takes his cat Tora on tours of the United States. Because of the cat’s apparent lack of tremendous long-term memory, each trip is like a new one for her. This is as much as we learn about this relationship until an extended coda gives us a quick update via text what the pair have been up to in the interim. The same could be said for Toodles, the cat belonging to stuntman Ryan, about whom we learn far more than his pet. This particular example quite literally defeats the purpose of its own existence.
This problem persists throughout, though the stories with potential are at least more dramatically interesting than the pair above. For instance, former construction worker David has been unhoused for some time when we meet him and his cat Lucky, whom he counts among the life-saving decisions he made in spite of his lot. Elsewhere, the Belmont Fire Department in Greenville, South Carolina, adopts a kitten, names it Flame, and fashions it into their mascot, while a pair of men, Nathan and Peter, find a bit of internet celebrity by turning their cats into viral sensations.
There are other stories told here, too, but Cat Daddies constantly calls into question whether they are either relevant or interesting by truncating them. Hoang’s hand is heavy behind the camera, and she also employs an annoyingly treacly piano score and far too much slow-motion photography for such a slight documentary to maintain. One feels like a grouch disliking a movie with such superficially good intentions. The problem is that everything here is superficial.
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