Tomcats

Tastelessness can be funny, as evidenced by There’s Something About Mary, but tastelessness just for the sake of the gross-out does not automatically equate amusing—as proved here in spades by Tomcats. Throw in an ample streak of misogyny, and you end up with a tired and desperate effort that seems written by a committee of drunken frat guys. The Tomcats of the title are a cadre of horndog friends who, on the day of one of their number’s wedding, make a very substantial bet … with the last single man standing taking home the kitty. A few years later, only two bachelors remain: an irredeemable womanizer (utterly charmless Jake Busey) and the sorta nice-guy (Chris O’Donnell) who, after incurring a heavy duty Vegas debt, plots with a female cop to entrap the Busey character into matrimony as a means to avoid getting his own legs broken (or worse). One shock value set piece after another stands in for any coherent storyline, with send-ups of better movies serving as a sort of comedic shorthand. The problem with shorthand is that a lot of things, such as a sense of humor, tend to get lost in the translation. This is one neutered cat.