A Street Cat Named Bob is an adaptation of a couple of James Bowen’s memoirs. James is a London busker and recovering drug addict trying to get on the straight and narrow with only his social worker in his corner. A marmalade cat adopts James, and James names him Bob. James is willing to sacrifice everything for Bob. Cats don’t have to do anything that they don’t want to, and Bob repeatedly makes his choice of human beings clear, James is his human. Together they get off the streets and on the road to recovery.
A Street Cat Named Bob is the kind of film that CBS Sunday movies used to make, normally sponsored by Hallmark, but you can tell that it was a theatrical release because maybe Hallmark wouldn’t touch a drug addict’s story with a ten foot pole, and there is some colorful language. Normally I stay away from movies featuring animals because movies usually put animals in movies just to kill them off and treat them as a plot device, but once I was reassured that Bob was also an actor and appeared as himself in the movie, I knew that I could handle the movie without getting upset.
How did I hear about A Street Cat Named Bob? Once I like an actor, it doesn’t matter what movie that actor is in, I will watch it. Anthony Stewart Head plays James’ father, who wants nothing to do with him and has completely moved on with a new family that can only be described as vying for Cinderella’s stepfamily’s crown as worst step family ever, but I will admit that I am biased and pro cats so maybe a human less in a cat’s corner could sympathize with them, but if you are considering a movie with a cat co-star, you are not likely that person so yes, they are awful.
A Street Cat Named Bob is a movie for the entire family. My mom, who does not appreciate profanity, never noticed any, loved it and was frequently stressed out whether or not the cat would be alright even though he was acting in the movie. This movie does not simply follow an upward trajectory of most inspirational movies not rooted in reality. Even when Bob and James’ life improves, there are frequent setbacks. I didn’t know that there are busking rules and rules to selling journals like Spare Change News. It is written from their perspective, but it also felt as if Bob and James were constantly set up to fail by haters, and they never did anything wrong so why punish them? Someone needs to work on these rules because if you are not the instigator, the zero tolerance policy effect seems unjust.
The Venn diagram for those interested in A Street Cat Named Bob and The Strain, a FX horror series, is probably small, but I am right in the middle of that small patch, and immediately recognized Ruta Gedmintas, who was dating the actor who plays James in this film, Luke Treadaway. Gedmintas played the computer hacker in The Strain, which I only watched for two seasons because the second was dreadful with no signs of improving. In this movie, she plays James’ neighbor who schools James in how to take care of a cat. She gets the best line, “Silence over bullshit.”
A Street Cat Named Bob does make a visual splash by occasionally shooting from Bob’s perspective. Eagle eyed viewers will spot the real life James Bowen near the end of the movie. It is a heartwarming tale, which you can perfectly add to your holiday movie collection, because it also delivers an important message. With the benefit of hindsight and fame, we know that James is talented and deserved a second chance, but his salvation is extremely arbitrary. His family did not believe in him and possibly with good reason because we never meet the James that would do anything to get high. Without a social safety net, he could have died, and even with the social safety net, he was close to starving with fame and talent. Even inconvenient, messy life is valuable, but we act as if it is disposable and would prefer that it would just disappear unless people can prove that they are worthy of living.
A Street Cat Named Bob’s real lesson is that all life is valuable, animal and human, clean and sober or high. James understood and acted as if it was when he had nothing, and we say that we do, but our actions don’t reflect our alleged beliefs, and we have so much more than he did when he was at his nadir. If we were honest with ourselves, we would see ourselves in James’ father more than James. Every day, tons of animals are executed and tossed because no one wants to adopt them, but should their existence rely on their desirability to a human being? I’m not saying that it is easy or financially feasible, but we do so many things that are not easy that ranges from less beneficial to harmful without concern for the cost. In America, unless James and Bob could get on a reality show or go viral, they would be dead, and we should at least want to do better.
I highly recommend A Street Cat Named Bob. If my mom loved it, it is probably relatively safe for kids to watch. Kate Middleton went to the premiere. If you live in or near a city, none of the depictions will raise an eyebrow. There is no nudity or sexual situations. There is some language, but not gratuitous. I’m probably not going to read the book, but if you want to know how James and Bob are doing, there are a series of books that you could check out and a line of children’s books.