Taglines: Brian’s about to discover the woman he loves isn’t the woman he loves.
The Truth About Cats and Dogs movie storyline. Janeane Garofalo plays Dr. Abby Barnes, the “Truth About Cats and Dogs” radio question-and-answer show host who unwittingly entices a listener over the radio with her soothing voice and personality. This listener, Brian, tries to meet the Abby from the radio, but Noelle, played by Uma Thurman, is mistaken for the real thing when Brian comes to the studio. Instead of clearing things up right away, the self-conscious Abby allows her best friend, Noelle, a tall, stunning blonde, to take her place for a while.
Abby takes on the made-up persona of Donna, while thinking Brian would never go for her, a short, cute, brunette, who thinks she’s unattractive. As the real Abby woos Brian over the phone and radio, Noelle, the pseudo-Abby, takes her place in the flesh. As time goes on, Abby feels more and more confident that Brian would rather have the beautiful Noelle than the simply attractive Abby.
The Truth About Cats & Dogs is a 1996 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann, starring Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin and Jamie Foxx, and written by Audrey Wells. The original music score was composed by Howard Shore. The film is a romantic comedy in the style of Cyrano de Bergerac, where two women date the same man, resulting in large explosions in their friendship.
Many movie reviewers found a similarity to the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, with Abby as the talented but “ugly” Cyrano, Noelle as Christian and Brian as Roxane. The movie recouped its budget. It grossed about $34,073,143 in the United States by 11 August 1996, and a bit more overseas.
Uma Thurman said about the ugly-versus-beautiful theme, “We probably keep going back to that idea because there’s a whole industry that needs to sell a lot of products that wants us to think that the outside is the important part. There’s a war going on. The inside’s not as commercial as the outside. People are so affected by how they’re received in the world, and some of all of our first experiences are based on how we’re externally judged. The conflict between the inner and the outer is a constant battle everybody experiences on lots of levels.”
The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996)
Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Starring: Uma Thurman, Janeane Garofalo, Ben Chaplin, Jamie Foxx, James McCaffrey, Richard Coca, Antoinette Valente, Mitch Rouse, La Tanya M. Fisher, Faryn Einhorn
Screenplay by: Audrey Wells
Production Design by: Sharon Seymour
Cinematography by: Robert Brinkmann
Film Editing by: Stephen Semel
Costume Design by: Bridget Kelly
Set Decoration by: Maggie Martin
Art Direction by: Jeff Knipp
Music by: Howard Shore
KHAA Daüirg: PG-13 on appeal for a sex-related scene and brief strong language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 26, 1996
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