Looking for Kitty

Looking for Kitty follows down-on-his-luck private investigator Jack Stanton (Edward Burns) as he reluctantly agrees to help a high-school basketball coach (David Krumholtz’s Abe Fiannico) track down his missing wife, with the movie subsequently revolving around the characters’ continuing investigation and the bond that begins to form between the two men. Filmmaker Burns has infused Looking for Kitty with a low-rent visual sensibility that’s almost distractingly unappealing, with the movie’s grungy appearance compounded by a meandering storyline that is, for the most part, rarely involving. It’s clear, however, that Burns does a nice job of cultivating the chemistry between his and Krumholtz’s respective characters, and the movie possesses a handful of admittedly effective moments – although, by that same token, there’s a lack of cohesion here that remains a problem from beginning to end. And while the movie grows rather sweet and heartfelt in its final stretch, Looking for Kitty‘s pervasively underwhelming atmosphere renders all of its positive attributes moot – which is a shame, really, given the strength of the feel-good ending and Burns and Krumholtz’s affable work.

** out of ****