★★½
(PG) 103 minutes
We all know that cats seldom do as they're told, which is why cat videos on YouTube have the charm of the unpredictable. Making a cat into the centre of a dramatic narrative is a bigger challenge, even for a veteran director like Roger Spottiswoode, whose experience with animal movies goes back to the 1989 man-and-dog comedy Turner and Hooch.
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Trailer: A Street Cat Named Bob
A homeless busker befriends a ginger cat who changes his life.
Based on a bestselling memoir, Spottiswoode's A Street Cat Named Bob tells the story of James Bowen (Luke Treadaway), a London busker of no fixed abode whose struggle to stay off drugs is aided by the ginger cat of the title, who appears out of nowhere to become his inseparable companion.
While the real-life Bob supposedly plays himself, the end credits reveal that the role was shared by half a dozen lookalikes. Presumably, all of them had their restless moments – or so it appears from editing which is brisk to the point of jumpiness, often resorting to shots from Bob's perspective that imply his presence without actually showing him.
![Luke Treadaway is not afraid to bring out his character's off-putting side. Ginger Bob is portrayed for the most part as ...](/web/20170210204906im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/7/9/l/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu7zp1.png/1486699504745.jpg)
Seemingly aimed at older children as well as adults, the film paints a rather sanitised picture of what life might look like for a formerly homeless junkie. Some scenes are downright syrupy, particularly those devoted to James' half-hearted romance with Betty (Ruta Gedmintas), a free-spirited but law-abiding hippie.
Yet Treadaway, a skilled actor, is not afraid to bring out his character's off-putting side: James' avoidance of eye contact and quavering voice suggest genuine frailty, but also long practice in soliciting pity. Treadaway also has the chops to do his own singing in the busking scenes, though the best you can say about his songs – mainly by former Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink – is that they're plausible as the work of an undiscovered talent.
It must be said that this Cinderella story is not one which most people struggling with homelessness or addiction can hope to emulate.
Still, only the hard of heart will be totally unmoved, and even they may find a kindred spirit in Bob, portrayed for the most part as serenely indifferent to the plight of his master. On this front, the film deserves credit for realism – and to the rating above, cat lovers should add at least half a star.