The name refers to the famous or quasi-famous comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. According to the film, he lives in New Jersey doing…I don’t know, awaiting the next sequel to “Police Academy,” I guess. The movie has almost nothing to do with Bobcat, and everything to do with three twenty-something year old guys from New Jersey that have nothing better to do than take advice from Bobcat Goldthwait movies. As in drinking olive oil right before a night of heavy drinking. According to a Bobcat film it keeps a person sober. Foolish ideas like this one seem to hold ground in New Jersey, or at least they do in this film.
“Calling Bobcat” is a film about an underachieving, twenty-something year old guy named Darrin (Jayce Bartok) who’s dealing with his recent separation from his girlfriend. Sound familiar? Think Clerks/Swingers/High Fidelity without the charm, wit, or style. I’ll go through the formalities anyhow, so here we go again.
After getting dumped, Darrin decides to drive around town in an attempt to track down his recent ex-girlfriend. He brings along his two friends Lawson (Rob King) and Dan (Daniel Serafini-Sauli) for support, comedy relief, or extra filler in-between scenes. I never know why, but you can always find two or three friends that have to come along in these kinds of movies. Darrin finally finds her, but she’s in the arms of another guy. Defeated, Darrin decides to take Lawson’s advice and move down to Florida to start a business. Before they can even make it out of town, all three guys end up in jail for breaking into a junk food warehouse.
There are several scenes, like an early one involving Lawson holding up a liquor store to steal a turkey sandwich, that are supposed to inspire laughter, but they’re nothing more than juvenile acts that are, well, juvenile. That’s not necessarily a good thing when you’re in your twenties.
Most of the characters are cruel, empty, and uninteresting. A film like this has a big problem when the protagonist doesn’t have more depth than the dumb jocks that are being poked fun at. I’m not saying this is a horrible film, but believe me; you’ve seen this before. If you haven’t seen the other films that I’ve mentioned, then go out and rent those first; they’re considerably better movies.
