The Truth About Cats & Dogs
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The Truth About Cats & Dogs is a 1996 American film, a romantic comedy starring Uma Thurman, Janeane Garofalo, Ben Chaplin, and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Audrey Wells.
Abby Barnes (played by Garofalo) is a veterinarian, who hosts a Los Angeles radio show called "The Truth About Cats and Dogs." The use of this as the title of the film also suggests the combative nature of male-female romantic relationships. Abby strikes up an unexpected friendship with her neighbour Noelle (Thurman,) a traditionally attractive model who is sweet but not very sharp. When Abby makes a blind date with a caller to her show (Chapman,) her insecurity with her own appearance leads her to convince Noelle to pretend to *be* Abby when meeting the date. Unfortunately both women develop feelings for the man leading to a comedic series of misunderstandings as their unintentional deception grows deeper.
Though the film was a commercial success there was an outspoken group of people who felt it ironic that Garofalo was cast as the dumpy, unattractive intellectual to Thurman's blonde, leggy supermodel. They commented that Garofalo was only unattractive by "movie-star-standards," but that by normal standards she was as attractive as Thurman.
Ironically, several years later Garofalo would get a chance to be a real talk show host, as she co-hosted The Majority Report on Air America Radio.