Nine Lives is a 2016 English-language French comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, written by Gwyn Lurie, Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, Dan Antoniazzi and Ben Shiffrin and stars Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner, Robbie Amell, Cheryl Hines, Malina Weissman and Christopher Walken.
The plot follows a workaholic father who has his mind trapped inside of his daughter's new cat. The film was released by EuropaCorp on 5 August 2016. It received negative reviews and grossed $44 million.
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Plot
Tom Brand (Kevin Spacey) is a major business tycoon in New York City whose workaholic attitude ruined his first marriage with Madison (Cheryl Hines) and caused a rift between him and his adult son David (Robbie Amell) who now works for him and strives for his approval. He now lives with his second wife Lara (Jennifer Garner), who is a little more tolerant of the fact that he is never at home, and his daughter Rebecca (Malina Weissman). His eponymous company FireBrand is nearing completion on its greatest achievement to date: the tallest skyscraper in the northern hemisphere that will be the new headquarters. In the opening scene, he skydives out of a plane and land on the top of the new skyscraper. His son, who is his assistant, remains in the plane, refusing to jump.
Rebecca's 11th birthday is coming and she has always wanted a cat, but Tom has always refused as he hates cats. Not wanting to disappoint her in a rush to get a last-minute present for his daughter's birthday, the GPS directs him to a mysterious pet store called Purrkins Pet Shop, brimming with odd and exotic cats. The store's eccentric owner Felix Perkins (Christopher Walken) tells him he doesn't pick the cat, the cat picks him.
The tomcat that picked him is called Mr. Fuzzypants. Perkins says he has used up seven of his nine lives. Tom takes the cat. Tom is on his way home for the party when he decides to see Ian Cox (Mark Consuelos), one of the top managers of the company in charge of the new building, as he learns that another building in Chicago will be taller. They have an argument while on the roof that ends with Brand firing Cox, but lightning strikes the antenna and Brand is blown off the building along with the cat. He plummets off the side of the skyscraper, but his leg gets snagged on some stray equipment and gets flung back inside through a window as he passes out. When he wakes up, he realizes that his human body is in the hospital in a state of coma, and his consciousness is trapped inside of the cat's body.
Felix goes to visit him. Apparently, he is able to talk to him and knows what happened. He is told by Felix that he must reevaluate his priorities, connect with his family, and avoid past mistakes within one week or else be stuck as a cat forever. Lara and Rebecca take him home. Mr. Fuzzypants acts in an odd and stubborn way to try to convince his wife and daughter that he's actually Tom. This only drives them mad and he slowly comes to see how much he has ignored his family. He also learns that Ian is trying to take the company public with the help of the board of directors to take power from Tom, even though David is trying to stop him. Ian has David fired from the company and plans to announce that the company will be sold at the party for the new tower opening.
Eventually Rebecca realizes that Mr. Fuzzypants is really her father. Meanwhile, Tom's body is in crisis at the hospital and Lara, David, and Rebecca all go there. Rebecca has the cat hidden in her backpack. In a moment alone, David tells Tom that he is sorry he failed to save the company and he takes Tom's ID badge. It is implied that David plans to commit suicide at the tower.
At the hospital, Lara and Dr. Cole (Jewelle Blackman) plan to disconnect Tom's respirator and let him die. Rebecca calls to the cat to come prove he's really Tom, but Tom remembers what Mr. Perkins said about love being sacrifice and decides to go after David instead, knowing that his human body will die and he will be trapped as a cat forever.
At the tower, David jumps off the building and the cat jumps after him pulling a cable. It is then revealed that David is wearing a basejumping parachute. He lands in the middle of the party, produces the articles of incorporation of the company, and announces that he now controls his father's 51% of the stock. He says the company will remain a Family Company and fires Ian.
We don't see the cat land, but it is implied that he uses up his eighth life and Tom's consciousness returns to his body in the hospital just in time to see David's announcement on the television.
Down on the street, Ian passes Mr. Perkins who tells him to hang up his cell phone. Ian is then hit by a car and his consciousness transfers into a cat that Mr. Perkins takes back to his shop.
In the final scene, Tom and Rebecca walk into Mr. Perkins' shop. Rebecca said she knows they can never replace Mr. Fuzzypants, but they would like to get another pet. Tom asks if Perkins has any dogs. Mr. Perkins says he does not, but he has a cat that has only one life left who would like to spend it with them. He then put Mr. Fuzzypants on the counter and Rebecca happily takes him home with them.
9 Lives Cat Food Review Video
Cast
- Kevin Spacey as Tom Brand, a tycoon and owner of FireBrand who ends up in the body of a cat.
- Jennifer Garner as Lara Brand, Tom's second wife.
- Robbie Amell as David Brand, the son of Tom who works at FireBrand.
- Cheryl Hines as Madison Camden, the ex-wife of Tom and the mother of David.
- Malina Weissman as Rebecca Brand, the daughter of Tom and Lara and the half-sister of David.
- Christopher Walken as Felix Perkins, the owner of an exotic pet store.
- Mark Consuelos as Ian Cox, the top manager at FireBrand who schemes to take control of the company.
- Teddy Sears as Josh
- Talitha Bateman as Nicole
- Serge Houde as Board Member Stein
- Mark Camacho as Josh Boone
- Jewelle Blackman as Dr. Cole
- Jon Olson as Mr. Fuzzypants' vocal effects
Barry Sonnenfeld and his daughter Chloe provide additional cat voices.
Production
On 12 January 2015, it was announced Barry Sonnenfeld would direct the film. On 28 January 2015, Kevin Spacey joined the cast. On 25 March 2015, Malina Weissman joined the cast. On 31 March 2015, Christopher Walken joined the cast to play Felix Perkins, the owner of a mystical pet shop, and on 9 April 2015, Jennifer Garner and Robbie Amell joined as well. On 13 April 2015, Mark Consuelos was cast in the film, and on 27 April 2015, Talitha Bateman was cast as well. Principal photography began on 4 May 2015, and ended on 24 July 2015.
Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released on 29 April 2016, by EuropaCorp, but was pushed back to 5 August 2016.
Box office
Nine Lives grossed $19.7 million in North America and $24.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $44.2 million against a budget of $30 million.
The film was released in North America on August 5, 2016 alongside Suicide Squad. The film was projected to gross $10 million from 2,264 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.4 million on its first day. It went on to gross $6.2 million in its opening weekend, finishing 6th at the box office.
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 11% based on 55 reviews; the average rating is 2.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Not meow, not ever". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 11 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of D, saying, "Cats may have nine lives, but you only get one, and it's too precious to waste on this drivel. You're better off watching a gif of a cat whose face is stuck in a slice of bread. It will save you $20 and a few hours of your time". David Palmer of The Reel Deal gave the film 3/10, writing, "The only reason this 'comedy' won't derail Kevin Spacey's career is no one will ever watch this outside of military interrogation rooms". Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave the film zero out of four stars and wrote, "At 87 torturous, laugh-free minutes, the film could change the most avid cat fancier into a kitty hater".
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 1, 2016, by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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