If it is at all possible for a human being to develop an unhealthy obsession with Orson Welles, director Peter Bogdanovich would likely become the world's first case study (he, among other things, co-wrote This is Orson Welles).  Based on a real event in the life of Welles’s Citizen Kane protagonist, The Cat's Meow is Bogdanovich's first directorial feature since 1993's not-so-earth-shattering The Thing Called Love, making the two-time Oscar nominee’s real life more than a little similar to Woody Allen's Val Waxman in Hollywood Ending.  Bogdanovich hasn't had a hit in so long, he's probably best known to people in the under-40 set as the guy who plays the shrink's shrink on The Sopranos.

Luckily, Meow is still rather entertaining, but it doesn't come close to rivaling Bogdanovich's heavily praised (and slightly overrated) work from the early '70s (Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show).  A lot of critics (this one included) are saying Meow is kept afloat by the energetic performance of Spider-Man’s Kirsten Dunst, which seems to be turning off a big chunk of moviegoers (read: women), while those who do like her (read: men) aren't generally the type to suffer through a historical period piece to see the fully clothed starlet kiss any superheroes.  Sounds like Bogdanovich has another huge hit on his hands, doesn't it?

Meow takes place in 1924, largely on board "The Oneida," a 220-foot yacht owned by William Randolph Hearst (Edward Herrmann, Gilmore Girls), who is throwing a birthday celebration for friend Thomas Ince (Cary Elwes, Shadow of the Vampire).  During the coastal trek from Los Angeles to San Diego, one of the star-studded-party attendees is murdered (Bogdanovich has asked critics to keep mum about the victim, though anyone familiar with the story knows who got croaked), and Meow is about the events leading up to the crime as well as the alleged cover-up that ensued.  The film is based on an incident that actually happened on Hearst's boat, but since nobody is completely sure what occurred, it's merely one person's take on the situation.

In addition to the influential Hearst and down-on-his-luck movie producer Ince, other party guests include novelist Elinor Glyn (Absolutely Fabulous's Joanna Lumley, who narrates the film), fledgling entertainment reporter Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly, The Crew), Charlie Chaplin (Elwes's Vampire co-star Eddie Izzard), actress Marion Davies (Dunst), plus a bunch of other people who were probably famous for some reason or another (it makes Meow a little like Gosford Park, only without the downstairs help and glacial pace).

There are other things in the air here besides the festive atmosphere, most notably the obvious chemistry between Davies and Chaplin.  This causes several ripples throughout the party, as the 27-year-old Davies and the extremely jealous 61-year-old Hearst are already an item.  Chaplin has problems of his own, specifically the negative response to his attempt at drama (A Woman of Paris) and his recent impregnation of the underage Lita Grey, who appeared in two of his earlier films.  Most attendees pick up on the weird vibes, but not the starstruck Parsons, who, rumor has it, became the country's preeminent gossip columnist in exchange for not blabbing about what really happened on the yacht.

The events depicted in Meow were in an original draft of Kane (which, as I'm sure you all know, was about Hearst and had absolutely nothing to do with a sled).  Hearst doesn't come off much better here, though he isn't really a dark, brooding antagonist so much as a regular guy with regular-guy feelings.  He happens to be incredibly powerful but is still insecure about things that would bug working-class people like you and me (although most of us don't have peepholes and elaborate listening devices with which to spy on others).  Dunst's Davies isn't quite the floozy portrayed in Kane, either, while Izzard almost plays his role as the anti-Chaplin.

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for sexuality, a scene of violence and brief drug use