Nine Lives (2016)
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
A stuffy businessman finds himself trapped inside the body of his family's cat.
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What critics say influenced Nine Lives
Do you believe that Nine Lives is a real movie, and not a Funny or Die parody of '90s talking animal movies like Paulie (1998) and Joe's Apartment (1996)?
Do you believe that Nine Lives is a real movie, and not a Funny or Die parody of '90s talking animal movies like Paulie (1998) and Joe's Apartment (1996)?
The film, derivative (see “The Shaggy Dog” of 2006) and devoid of wit, is about that tiredest of kid-movie clichés, the parent who is too busy for his children and must be taught a lesson.
The latest attempt to cash in on the Internet cat craze comes from director Barry Sonnenfeld (best known as cinematographer for the Coens-turned-director ofThe Addams Family and the Men in Black trilogy).
It is a mystery, though, why Barry Sonnenfeld (director of The Addams Family and Men In Black) and his cast were drawn to such skittish material.
Industry veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (cinematographer of Raising Arizona and Misery, director of The Addams Family and Men in Black) seems to have collapsed at the wheel, leaving his actors—including Jennifer Garner, Cheryl Hines, and Christopher Walken—to do a lot of mugging for their paychecks.
Former comic lion Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black and The Addams Family) plays the jokes sloppy and quick.
And yet here it is, not on the Disney Channel, and not even from Disney! Somehow it accidentally stars Kevin Spacey, too, and was inadvertently directed by semi-respected filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (“Men in Black,” “The Addams Family”).
The fact that it was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, who started as the cinematographer best known for shooting the Coen Brothers' first three films and then distinguished himself in the 1990s as a director of smart, funny Hollywood fare like The Addams Family (1993), Get Shorty (1995), and Men in Black (1997), is testament to the depths to which his career has sunk, having arguably never recovered from the big-budget debacle that was Wild Wild West (1999).
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Frankly, the best qualities of this family comedy from director Barry Sonnenfeld (the Men in Black series) are that it doesn't exceed 90 minutes and gives Christopher Walken a chance to say the words "poopy box."
This allows director Barry Sonnenfeld, far from the glory of days of Get Shorty and Men in Black, to parcel out life lessons with such witless regularity and relentless obviousness that you might want to deafen your eardrums and claw your eyes out.
In “Nine Lives,” the director of the “Men in Black” and “Get Shorty” movies turned filmdom’s special effects wizards loose on the most challenging bit of fakery ever attempted in a movie.
The latest attempt to cash in on the Internet cat craze comes from director Barry Sonnenfeld (best known as cinematographer for the Coens-turned-director ofThe Addams Family and the Men in Black trilogy).
It is a mystery, though, why Barry Sonnenfeld (director of The Addams Family and Men In Black) and his cast were drawn to such skittish material.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (“Men in Black”) and written by one of the finest algorithms money can buy, this derivative story about the very secret lives of pets is quite possibly the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs.
The thing that’s so excruciating about films like “Garfield: The Movie,” “Cats & Dogs,” “Beverly Hills Chiuahua,” or the new “ Nine Lives ” — starring Kevin Spacey as the voice of a disgruntled kitty cat named Mister Fuzzypants; are you tumbling out of your chair with laughter yet?
It wishes it was a lessons-learned folly like Click or Liar Liar.
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Sonnenfeld seems to have little grip on the film, and he and cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub (also fallen from his days shooting blockbusters like Independence Day) give it a cheesy, garishly flat look that might work as a play on storybook aesthetics if it didn't look so willfully cheap.
Industry veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (cinematographer of Raising Arizona and Misery, director of The Addams Family and Men in Black) seems to have collapsed at the wheel, leaving his actors—including Jennifer Garner, Cheryl Hines, and Christopher Walken—to do a lot of mugging for their paychecks.