In a 2004 review, film critic Roger Ebert said Berry looks fabulous, but the movie is terrible. Ebert said the producers didn't give much thought to providing the actress with "a strong character, story, supporting characters or action sequences."
He described the film as "tired and dated." The movie critic said there was never "any sense of what it feels like to turn into a catwoman."
"Where are the scenes where a woman comes to grip with the fact that her entire nature and even her species seems to have changed?" he wrote.
According to The Guardian, Berry appeared in person to accept the Razzie award for worst actress after her performance in Catwoman.
"My mother told me that if you couldn't be a good loser then there's no way you could be a good winner," she said while explaining her decision to attend the event in 2005.
John Rogers, one of the writers of Catwoman, spoke up about the failures of the production when he responded to a question on social media in 2018. Like many others, a Twitter user wanted to know why Berry wasn't actually playing the traditional character of Selina Kyle.
Rogers said it was a rights issue that forced the actress to play a loosely-based version of the traditional character. The writer also explained that he had multiple disputes with his colleagues because he wasn't happy with the changes they were making.
"Full disclosure: I was fired off the movie after writing the green light draft because I kept arguing with notes that'd make the movie 'very, very bad,'" he wrote. "Which I said out loud. At meetings. I got fired a lot in my 30s."
According to Cinema Blend, the Catwoman character didn't look anything like the comic book superhero. Like other disappointed fans, Rogers said he struggled to watch the entire movie.
"I've never watched the movie all the way through in one sitting," he said. "I skipped premiere night to shoot Jenni Baird audition footage for Global Frequency."
