Cats have slinked, stretched, purred, and pounced through movies for well more than a century, going back to the silent 1901 short The Sick Kitten. We can all agree: They make a film more interesting.
The Library celebrates these furry stars in its 2023 Off the Wall rooftop film series, Feline Throughline, featuring cats in non-starring but invariably scene-chewing roles. Leading off: 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats (PG-13, 98 min.), which finds Rachael Leigh Cook (lead singer and guitarist Josie), Tara Reid (drummer Melody), and Rosario Dawson (bassist Val) as members of a rising rock band caught in a scheme to control America’s youth.
Yes, it’s a musical comedy based on a comic book. But E! News saw more nuance on the 20th anniversary of the movie’s release in 2021, writing, “Over the last two decades, Josie and the Pussycats has become a generation-defining cult classic, simultaneously being ahead of its time with its take on consumerism and the state of pop music and yet a perfect encapsulation of the Y2K era, Carson Daly cameo included.”
In other words, it’s the cat’s pawjamas.
