''Rats and Cats'' is a 2006 Australian comedy film.

Plot

''Rats and Cats'' is about a journalist tracking a former film and television star.

Production

The film was directed by Tony Rogers and starring

Adam Zwar Adam Zwar (born 13 January 1972) is an Australian actor, voice artist, and writer. He is best known for co-creating the Australian comedy series ''Squinters'', '' Lowdown'', '' Wilfred'' and creating the critically acclaimed Channel 10 comedy ' ...

and

Jason Gann Jason Gann is an Australian-born former actor, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known for his role as the title character in the Australian comedy series '' Wilfred'', directed by Tony Rogers, and the U.S. reboot of the same name. B ...

, the pair of whom also wrote the screenplay. The film was shot in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and country

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The film is 88 minutes long.

Cast

as Ben Baxter *

as Darren McWarren * Paul Denny as Bruce *

Anya Beyersdorf Anya Beyersdorf is an Australian actress and screenwriter. Early life and education Anya Beyersdorf was born in Armidale, New South Wales. She attended Armidale High School in her high school years. However, she studied drama and communicatio ...

as Cindy *

Angus Sampson Angus Sampson is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his performances as Tucker in the ''Insidious'' film series, Ray Jenkins in ''The Mule'' (2014), The Organic Mechanic in '' Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015) and '' Furiosa: A M ...

as Robber *

Bert La Bonté Bert LaBonté (born in either 1974 or 1975) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. With a career that has spanned over 20 years, LaBonté's most known roles include ''Five Bedrooms'', ''The Newsreader'' and many more. Early life L ...

as Teddy Taiwan

Release

The film was released in cinemas on 15 May 2008, after it premiered at the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

held at the

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

on 3 August 2006.

Reception

David Stratton from '' At the Movies'' wrote, "''RATS AND CATS'' is a sort-of comedy, very laid-back and meandering, and it's mostly content to explore life in this little town and some of its inhabitants." Vicky Roach of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' wrote, "While Rats And Cats is an altogether different creature, it has the same strong sense of its own identity and the same authentic charm." Leigh Paatsch of the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'' wrote, "Worth checking out if you're after something genuinely different." ''

The Movie Show ''The Movie Show'' was an Australian film review program which was broadcast on SBS TV. Its history is divided into three parts, until it finally wound up in 2008. History The programme commenced on 30 October 1986 with David Stratton and Mar ...

'' on SBS wrote about the film's characters, "Even better, the film boasts an enviably and uncommonly consistent tone, with supporting actors Anya Beyersdorf (as prostitute turned girlfriend, Cindy) and Paul Denny (as Darren’s brain-dead mate, Bruce) matching the high standard set by Gann and Zwar." Paul Byrnes of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' wrote on its celebrity worship, "''Rats And Cats'' seems to want to be taken half-seriously, as a commentary on the emptiness of celebrity worship, but it's hard to argue that from such a shaky comic foundation."

References

External links

* * {{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20081017120110/http://www.ratsandcatsmovie.com/ Australian comedy films 2006 films 2000s English-language films 2000s Australian films