Looking for Kitty: Film Review

Written and Directed by:

Edward Burns

Ed Burns prides himself on being the king of low and no-budge filmmaking. His first film, The Brother's McMullen (1995) cost only $23,800 and took home the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, Burns has stuck true to his indie roots, making low budget films that cost between one and five million dollars like Sidewalks of New York (2001) and Ash Wednesday (2002). With Looking for Kitty (2004), Burns has attempted to rekindle his no-budget guerilla filmmaking days. I'm sorry to say, the result is somewhat disappointing.

The film centers on the strange friendship that strikes up between a high school baseball coach named Abe Fiannico (David Krumholtz) and a private investigator named Jack Stanton (Edward Burns). After Abe's wife leaves him for a New York City rock star, he hires Jack to help him track her down, in hopes that he can win her back.

Shot for only $200,000 on digital video, Burns has indeed returned to his guerrilla filmmaking influences, but unlike The Brothers McMullen, Looking for Kitty lacks a strong script with engaging characters. The film jumps back and forth between comedy scenes involving Saturday Night Live stars Rachel Dratch and Chris Parnell, to film noir-like mystery scenes where the characters walk the streets of New York interviewing people on the whereabouts of Abe's wife. In the rare moments that we do get interesting insights on Jack and Abe, we're left to wonder, and by the end of the film the character arches are left hanging.

The film does explore some interesting themes involving the fear of change, and how human begins tend to want to stay surrounded by the familiar, but the execution is just all wrong. I respect Burns for what he tried to do, and applaud his independent spirit, but the movie just tries too hard to be a "New York" film. It's clear that Burns has taken the master class in Woody Allen-style filmmaking, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the movie goes beyond homage, and becomes so bland and dull it morphs into parody without even realizing it.

Burns has been stuck his "Woody Allen phase" since the release of Sidewalks of New York back in 2001. At first it was appealing and kind of cute, but now it's just getting tiresome. I think it's time he put the big city away. Over the years, he's become far too interested in peering through the lens to set up a brilliant skyscraper shot that his scripts have taken a backseat. It's quite a shame too, since not that long ago he was considered one of the most promising up-and-coming screenwriters of the day.

Rating: D+