Posted in: Movies, Recent Updates | Tagged: aubrey plaza, christmas, comedy, entertainment, film, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever

Grumpy Cat's 'Worst Christmas Ever' Lives Up To Name

By Cameron Hatheway

[youtube]http://youtu.be/PrSPuBYm-Cw[/youtube]

At last, a Christmas movie that makes the Star Wars Holiday Special look amazing by comparison. Lifetime, the same channel responsible for Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story, and every sappy holiday romance movie your mother watches, attempted to cater to the interneters this past weekend by giving one of the most popular memes its own Christmas special. What they gave us instead was a wretched wet hairball.

Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever stars Grumpy Cat (real name Tardar Sauce) in her own live-action adventure, just in time for the holidays. Voiced by Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Safety Not Guaranteed), the story is one we've seen hundreds of times, focusing on a little girl befriending a talking animal, and teaming up to defeat a couple of bumbling villains from ruining the holidays. Even by made-for-television holiday special standards, it was pretty atrocious.

However the acting and story isn't what you should be focusing on, but rather Plaza narrating Grumpy Cat. Plaza's known for her annoyed, agitated personality, and sure enough that completely fits Grumpy Cat's modus operandi. The whole movie was shot before Plaza recorded her lines, so she was able to improvise bits of her own hilarious commentary throughout the film. Being a producer on the film probably allowed her such a luxury.

Lifetime's plan to get new viewers from the internet demographic backfired, with the only real winner being Grumpy Cat and Grumpy Cat Limited. The film as a whole feels like it's trying to be funny by making self-deprecating meta jokes about itself, thinking the audience is laughing with it, and not at it. The reality is at the end of the day is Lifetime and all its programing is still the butt of the joke, and this film somewhat justifies our blatant disregard of the channel. If you were hoping to like it ironically, it's just not possible. At one point there's even a child molestation joke that slams Lifetime and the content they're known for:

Mom: "Those guys didn't do anything to you, did they?"
Grumpy Cat: "That's a different kind of Lifetime movie!"

I must say, I do congratulate the owner and manager of Tardar Sauce, Tabatha Bundesen and Ben Lashes, for being able to score a movie for their grumpy feline and without a doubt get a nice paycheck along with it. There are thousands of writers in Hollywood trying to get their screenplays greenlit, and Lifetime decided to waste precious money and airtime on Tim Hill and Jeff Morriski to try and cash in on an internet meme. Throughout the film Grumpy Cat's website and merchandise is constantly pitched, making the 2-hour movie in reality a 2-hour commercial that will no doubt payoff for Grumpy Cat rather than Lifetime. If it was a good movie, at least Lifetime could make some money off of DVD sales.

Tardar Sauce was the only reason I refused to stop watching, and all the little outfits they dressed her up in. The cat was such a trooper for putting up with the different actors and supporting animals, not having to do much but relax on a cushion, be cradled, or propped-up on paintball gun or steering wheel. Her grumpy frown and large bulbous blue eyes bring a sort of comfort to the viewer, giving us the feeling that the cat is just as annoyed being in the film as we are for watching it. The end credits were perhaps one of the highlights because not only did it signal that the film was over, but also it incorporated every outfit Tardar Sauce was dressed up in, dancing around the bottom of the screen.

During the movie Plaza live tweeted her thoughts and reactions which ended up being more entertaining than the film itself. There is a possibility for a sequel which they teased in both the movie and on Twitter for Grumpy Cat's Worst Vacation in Meow-I, without a doubt planting a seed in hopes that the Christmas special did better than projected. One can only hope that other networks, let alone studios, will take this Christmas movie as a sign to leave the internet memes alone, and simply starring one doesn't make it a guaranteed hit with audiences.

At the end of the day I don't like Grumpy Cat any less than I did going into it, and hate Lifetime even more so for stealing two hours of my life (almost four if you count this review). If Lifetime's plan was to make audiences grumpier than normal this holiday season, it definitely worked.

Cameron Hatheway is the host of Cammy's Comic Corner, an audio podcast. You can be grumpy at him on Twitter @CamComicCorner

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