Cattle Call

Cattle Call is a 2006 comedic film directed by Martin Guigui, starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jenny Mollen, and Nicole Eggert. This romp delivers a humorous send-up of Hollywood auditions, delivering laughs, satire, and a tinge of romance throughout its runtime.

Thomas Ian Nicholas, known for his role in the American Pie series, stars as Richie Rey, an ambitious Los Angeles marketer with dreams bigger than his cubicle can contain. He craves a life of fame, fortune, and romance with Hollywood's finest. Richie's best friend and co-worker, Nate Conners played by Jonathan Winters, shares Richie's aspirations, and the two become co-conspirators in an audacious scheme to meet and woo Hollywood's most beautiful women.

Nicole Eggert, in playing the role of the vivacious and sophisticated Laurel Canyon, delivers a stellar performance as the duo's first target. Recognizing Richie and Nate's apparent confidence, cunning, and charm, she finds herself increasingly drawn into their charming little ruse. Yet, Laurel is not just another pretty Hollywood face. She's smart, independent, and full of surprises, which create for the viewer an anticipation that perhaps the boys have met their match.

Jenny Mollen, playing Marina Del Mar, a starry-eyed actress new to the Hollywood scene, complicates matters further. Her arrival presents fresh opportunities and challenges for Richie and Nate as they continue to hatch plans involving fake casting calls and more to lure unsuspecting actresses into their lair.

Cattle Call draws viewers into the whirl, whirl, and whirl of Hollywood casting couch antics. Dim-witted, yet charming, Richie, brainy, quick-witted but naive Nate, Laurel, the subtly powerful siren and Marina, the hopeful talent looking for her big break, all combine to set up a humorous and dramatic equation. The film provides viewers a literal "backstage pass" to a world where glitter and dreams, ambition and deceit create a dazzling, chaotic kaleidoscope.

Director Martin Guigui crafts this comedy with a keen eye for Hollywood tropes, ensuring that every outrageous antic, every hilarious gaff, and every cringe-worthy line is crafted to keep you laughing. The mock "casting calls" are both humorous and cringe-inducing, managing to render a sense of the utterly ridiculous extent to which Hollywood dreamers will go in their quest for fame and fortune.

The core of Cattle Call rests on its cast. Thomas Ian Nicholas and Jonathan Winters demonstrate strong chemistry, their banter and comradeship creating many of the film's laughs. Their comedic timing is excellent, and the interplay between their characters and the bevy of Hollywood beauties they've "cast" delivers a consistent pace of comedy and light-hearted drama. Jenny Mollen’s compelling performance as the ingenue Marina adds a fresh-faced innocence to the character, and Nicole Eggert, in the role of Laurel, masterfully portrays the alluring, yet intelligent Hollywood insider.

Complementing the humor in the film is a subtle vein of romance which unfolds with bumbling charm, lending the film a warmth that balances the comedic elements. The boys may be mischievous, but their hearts are in the right place, and the film lightly probes the question of whether true love can arise out of such scheming plots.

The city itself unfolds as another character in the movie; Hollywood shimmers brilliantly and shines bright, as the perfect backdrop to this tale. Its glitz, glamour, promise, and façade of perfection are just the right ingredients for a film observing the occasionally ruthless scramble for stardom.

Audiences keen on soft, comedy films with a dollop of romance, will like the amusing character interactions, the almost-cockeyed schemes, and the wittily crafted comedic situations. While it attends with humor to Hollywood's less glamorous side, it also brings forward touching moments about friendship, ambition, love, and dreams.

Cattle Call is comfort cinema, filled with laugh-out-loud scenes, heartwarming moments, romantic confusion, and Hollywood absurdity that delight and entertain. It may not change the world, but it provides a fun escape and a humorous insider's look at show business life that keeps you entertained throughout. It's a wonderful blend of comedy, romance, satire, and a dash of Hollywood dream dust.