Catfight is a 2016 independent film starring
Sandra Oh and
Anne Heche as Veronica and Ashley, college
frenemies who encounter each other twenty years after their college days. The two of them spend the film allowing their verbal barbs to become all-out fistfights.
Alicia Silverstone plays Lisa, Ashley's partner.
Catfight provides examples of:
- All Part of the Show: The attendees at Ashley's art opening think that the fistfight that breaks out between Ashley and Veronica is a piece of performance art, and break out into applause when Ashley and Veronica leave the gallery to continue a running brawl down the street.
- Bad Boss: Once Ashley becomes successful, she repeatedly verbally berates Sally, to the point the inspiration for one painting she calls a "masterpiece" is telling Sally she wants to punch her in the face.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Despite getting into brawls that leave both characters, in turn, comatose, and that should by all rights knock out teeth and leave each other disfigured, Veronica and Ashley retain their good looks. Subverted in that the fights are pretty bloody and do leave visible injuries during the act.
- Brainless Beauty: Veronica initially comes across as an airhead. This isn't down to any innate lack of intelligence but a combination of a lifestyle where she simply doesn't do much other than look pretty and drink. Ashley even explicitly calls her a trophy wife. She does grow out of it.
- Catfight: Subverted. The fistfights Veronica and Ashley get into are serious combat, intended to inflict serious damage.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Veronica's Aunt Charlie, who names and talks to individual trees.
- Convenient Coma: Both lead characters end up in one, in turn, to allow time to pass and events in the outside world to happen.
- Crush the Keepsake: Subverted. While Ashley does spill water on Kip's camera, this is entirely accidental. She even points out, originally in earnest, that Veronica surely did backups. And the final shot shows the camera just rebooted.
- Heavy Sleeper: Aunt Charlie.
- Hypocrite: Ashley berates Sally for using blue labels, claiming she hates the colour and never uses it... all while standing in front of one of her paintings which heavily features it.
- Improbably Quick Coma Recovery: Zig-Zagged. While Veronica and Ashley are shown needing physical therapy to walk well after their respective comas, it's implied this lasted very little time and are shown fully functional practically immediately afterwards.
- Improvised Weapon: Used by both Veronica and Ashley, a lot.
- Jerkass: Both Veronica and Ashley, as well as many of the other characters in the movie with whom they interact.
- Lady Drunk: Veronica, to her husband's embarrassment.
- Next Sunday A.D.: In-universe, The War on Terror escalates to the point where the United States brings back a military draft and commits millions of troops...and ultimately wins the War on Terror decisively.
- Starving Artist: Ashley, at the beginning of the movie.
- Tiger Mom: Veronica is one of these to her son.
- Toilet Humour: A character in an in-universe comedy TV show is referred to as "Fart Machine". Guess what he does.
- Tragic Keepsake: Veronica's small box of possession's post-coma included a recording camera where her son Kip made her a video diary from shortly before being shipped to right before he died.
