Our local movie reviewer Mary F. Pols gives this a C-, after dissing it nicely. On the other hand, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle writes: “Tonight a million men will drag their girlfriends to see “Catwoman” [probably because of Halle Berry’s leather outfit and whip. -dh] and will walk out saying, ‘Wasn’t that stupid?’ but the women will know: It’s not.”

Which one is right? As so often happens, some viewers will go in expecting Halle Berry to play another Academy Award role, in the Best Movie of the Year. Sorry, they will be disappointed. And some will go in expecting nothing but some light entertainment, and they may get a bit more than they bargained for.

See Patience Phillips (Berry), who went to art school but then sold out to the establishment, so to speak, and is now an ad designer for giant Hedare Cosmetics, which is about to come out with Beauline, a face cream that will make the fair sex look young (still or again, as the case may be). Patience is a rather reticent and mousy creature who is willing to take all sorts of verbal abuse from her boss, company CEO George Hedare (Lambert Wilson), though she gets some unexpected support from Hedare’s wife Laurel (Sharon Stone), who has been the company’s chief model for many years but who is now, because of her age, being retired from her position (in the company and at home) in favor of young supermodel Drina. But Patience accidentally discovers that there is something seriously wrong with Beauline, and to shut her up the company’s hired gunsels kill her off. Luckily, she gets better, thanks to a cat she tried to rescue earlier in the day — one of the very rare “Mau” breed, which has supernatural powers derived from the Egyptian goddess Bast. I should add here that cat-lovers will love this movie!

Midnight the Cat has now infused Patience’s soul with the qualities of a cat, and she soon finds herself eating tuna out of cans, walking around on the backs of sofas, scarfing down sushi, going crazy over a ball of catnip, and landing on all fours when she leaps off tall buildings with a single bound. At first, she tests out her powers by closing down a permanent all-night party next door, and by breaking up a jewel-company robbery, after which she herself steals all the jewels (but thinks better of it in the morning and returns most of them in a paper bag with the word “Sorry!” scrawled on it). Finally, she sets out to solve the mystery of her murder and, ultimately, to save American womanhood from the deleterious effects of Beauline. All of this is intermixed with a romance she is carrying on with detective Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), who is simultaneously trying to catch the new criminal “Catwoman”. The romance, of course, is doomed — Lone must be a dog person …

By and large, I pretty much enjoyed this movie.