Catwoman is truly one of the most amazing movie failures of all time. Not infuriating, not depressing -- amazing. How could something like this happen? How did a movie like Catwoman end up in cinemas worldwide? What if you paid full price to see this? A lot of people did -- and no wonder, since Catwoman would have attracted fans of the Matrix sequels, Six Feet Under, Mad TV, and Family Guy. And people interested in seeing Halle Berry and Sharon Stone slap each other and almost make out. So, basically everybody, along with Benjamin Bratt's parents who couldn't think of an excuse in time to get out of it.

Catwoman was always billed as a "reimagining" of the Catwoman mythology, rather than having anything to do with the comic books, but the film does away with the only thing that makes Catwoman interesting: the fact that she doesn't actually have powers, she's just insane. Catwoman's Catwoman, however, is literally part cat, which means that she has an excuse for jumping around and meowing, but not for beating up Good Samaritans and stealing their cars.

With these powers, the movie has thrust an awkward "girl power" message onto Catwoman, as she argues that "freedom is power," which means she doesn't need a man because she's too busy doing whatever she wants. In fact, any woman in the world can do whatever she wants all the time, but it takes strength to focus on goals and responsibilities. Why should any woman want to be like Catwoman? Besides the neat excuse to bust out some BDSM outfit purchased by their nosy co-workers, of course.

To close out our coverage of Catwoman, we would like to share several items of trivia from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) :

• The movie had to undergo re-shoots after testing poorly with screeners, with only a month left before the theatrical release date.
• The trailer was put online a few months before the film's release, and drew such heavy criticism that it was quickly pulled. It was soon replaced with a new trailer which didn't feature any dialogue.
• The film was originally planned to be released in IMAX format. The promotional title "Catwoman: The IMAX Experience" was to be used along with the tagline "CATch Her in IMAX" on posters. The decision to cancel the IMAX release was announced 30 June 2004.
• Daniel Waters wrote a draft of the screenplay in 1995. The writers that revised the script include: Laeta Kalogridis, Theresa Rebeck (credited), Kate Kondell, John Rogers (credited), John D. Brancato (credited), Michael Ferris (credited), Jon Cowan, John O'Brien, David Reynolds, Harley Peyton, Valerie Breiman, Rita Hsiao, and Andrew W. Marlowe.

Two other tidbits raise our concern:

According to Alex Green, the whip master, Halle Berry needed a week of 90-minute practice sessions before she was able to successfully crack a whip. Why? The computer-generated whip was one of the most embarrassing parts of the movie. We might as well be learning that Halle Berry took lessons to wriggle out of an actual jail cell.

It took nine days to film the major fight scene between Catwoman and Laurel Hedare. Presumably, Halle Berry and Sharon Stone didn't have to show up for a minute of it, thanks to the burly male stunt doubles and computer-generated effects.

According to the interwebs, Ashley Judd was originally cast as Patience Phillips/Catwoman, while Frances McDormand was in talks for a role, and Josh Lucas was offered (and turned down) the part of Tom Lone.

It seems pretty clear which role Frances McDormand was up for. Despite her considerable onscreen presence, however, we actually believe this alternative casting would have resulted in exactly the same film.