MovieChat Forums > P.S. Your Cat Is Dead! (2002) Discussion > Love?

Love?

posted 16 years ago by ducdebrabant
2 replies | jump to latest

I think Eddie is supposed to fall in love with Jimmy, but I can't imagine why.

I think Jimmy is supposed to fall in love with Eddie, but I can't imagine when.

Male bonding, yes. Bovar plays a guy who is pretty easy-going, likes people, doesn't lack human sympathy. I can understand why he might want to befriend Jimmy, and they do go through a couple of bonding rituals together. But there's nothing sexually attractive about Gutenberg -- scruffy, bespectacled and constantly hysterical. Gutenberg can be attractive, but not here. Gutenberg as director lets Gutenberg as actor down.

And there is NOTHING to suggest that Jimmy falls for Eddie. It's not enough to suggest that he's a little too sad over his best friend's death not to be bisexual. Gutenberg the director gives us nothing -- no subjective shots of Bovar's bare ass, no lingering closeups of Jimmy at moments of gratitude or sympathy. He simply doesn't grow that aspect of the relationship. So when Eddie comes back at the end, and Jimmy smiles, it's meaningless.

Bovar gives a fantastic performance, but he can't do everything on his own.

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***You must be old and wrinkled to have that type of reaction. - Liana***

[–] loud_silence26 16 years ago

I'm sort of torn as to whether these two actually fall in love by the end of the movie. On the DVD there is a deleted scene where Jimmy (Guttenberg) listens to a tape he made of Eddie (Boyar) telling a story about how he took care of this man in his younger days. The man was busying doing something (it may have been writing a novel as well but I have forgotten at the moment)and Eddie did his cooking, cleaning and chores and eventually, the two fell in love.

Another deleted scene is an extension of when Eddie comes back to Jimmy's apt. on the rooftop. In this deleted scene, Eddie tells Jimmy, "I'll cook, I'll clean, pay the rent... all you have to do is finish your book." I took this both an attempt to reconcile what he had done to Jimmy's novel in allowing him the time and energy to finish it, but also as a last ditch effort for both of these men to find companionship, whether it's love or just a deep male friendship. Each man can give the other something he needs; Eddie gives Jimmy the time and energy to finish his novel, while Jimmy can give Eddie some shelter and stability. However, the way the final cut of the film is edited, the viewer is left with an open-ended finale where anything your mind can make up could be a possible ending.

Great film though, it's one of my favorites because of it's simplicity and originality.

[–] elinake 15 years ago

Well, ducdebrabant, you could give actors that much of respect and spell their names correctly - Boyar and Guttenberg...