The golden age of romantic comedies has long passed. In our Rom-Com Rewind column, we take a deep dive into the movies we so loved. Do they stand the test of time? Do they make any sense? Just how believable are they? Are they actually any good the second (or third, or fourth) time around?

In today's edition, we revisit The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Our special guest is none other than the star herself, Janeane Garofalo, whose comedy special "If I May" premieres on Seeso on October 27. We asked Garofalo what she really thought about some of the weirdest parts of the film—including that infamous phone sex scene.

But first, the basics.

The Movie

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

When Did It Come Out?

1996

The Trailer

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The Players

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This is Dr Abby Barnes (Janeane Garofalo), a vet who has a radio show called The Truth About Cats and Dogs. She fields calls about dogs with colds, cats that lick their owners' faces for three hours, and depressed fish. Kooky pet owners! Always being so kooky.

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Brian (Ben Chaplin; as far as I can tell, Brian doesn't have a last name, just like Cher), a photographer who calls in to Abby's show with a dilemma about a dog on rollerskates. He is British, which we all know is a very appealing quality in a fictional man.

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This is Hank! Would watch a movie all about Hank, tbh. He's the dog on rollerskates.

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Noelle (Uma Thurman), a model who lives in Abby's building and in her magazines.

The Set-Up

A panicky Brian wants Abby to help him calm Hank down. Abby guides him through the process of approaching Hank so that he won't feel threatened—and it works! Brian calls Abby to tell her how grateful he is, and—bonus—asks her out for a drink. When he asks her what she looks like—so they can recognize each other—it's her turn to panic. Instead of describing herself, she glances at a picture of Noelle and says she's tall, blonde, and thin. Why, you ask? The answer is: the patriarchy.

Now that she's told this whopping lie, Abby can't deal. She is short and dark-haired, not tall and blonde! There's no way she can go and disappoint a guy like that. So she doesn't go.

Poor Brian and poor Hank. They have been stood up. Will they ever meet Abby, the sexy voice and savior?

Have these two just experienced the first Catfish of all time? YouTube

After a series of unlikely events, Abby tells Noelle to pretend that she actually is Abby—and Brian falls in love with a kind of Frankenstein combination of the two women: Abby's personality and Noelle's body. COMPLICATED.

So, Here Are Seven Weird Things That Happen, in No Particular Order

The Truth About Cats and Dogs is, like many rom-coms, sweetly nonsensical and deeply improbable. On the one hand, the male love interest isn't simply shallow, and the movie shows a strong friendship taking root between two women despite some competition over a guy. But its premise—a woman thinks she's so unattractive that she doesn't believe a man could be interested in her—is just super horrid. Yes, the film's still fun to watch, but there are also some very murky moments.

Twenty years on, we checked in with Garofalo herself to ask what she really thought of the movie's most contentious moments, listed below.

1. Abby believes she is so unattractive that she lies about her looks.

"For me, personally, being cast as the Cyrano de Bergerac type, who is so unappealing to the eye that one must hide their identity, fed into all my worst fears about myself. It didn't feel great to be that person. But it is what it is, and it was a huge opportunity for someone like me, who had previously been, for the most part, unknown to a great many people. So in that sense I was grateful; in the other sense, I was embarrassed."

Janeane Garofalo performing in New York City Getty Images

2. Noelle's boyfriend Roy calls her a "dumb bitch," and Abby overhears. She runs out to them, saying, "Did you call me? I heard 'dumb bitch.' I assumed you were talking to me."

"Believe me, I choked on that one...That's unfortunately the nature of acting, unless you've got lots and lots of power in the business, which I don't. I don't believe in reclaiming words; I don't think that we can reclaim the B-word. You can never disinherit it from its legacy of oppression and derision, so I am not a fan, even of slang like, 'Hey, bitches!' I hate it. I can't stand using it for 'humorous' purposes or even real purposes. But I believe it was meant to be, in the moment, a way to rescue Uma's character—at least that's how I got through it."

3. Roy retaliates by calling Abby an "ugly dumb bitch."

"As anybody with eyes knows, there's a big difference between how men and women are allowed to age, in who is perceived as attractive in romantic situations, and a big difference in how men's and women's sexuality is perceived. Women are frequently accused of being unlikeable and bitchy—I hate that word—for displaying some of the exact same traits that a male lead, who is not criticized, displays."

Women are frequently accused of being unlikeable and bitchy

4. The film emphasizes and idealizes Noelle's kind of beauty—skinny, blonde, and tall—by constantly showing how much of an effect she has on men.

"Progress has certainly been made, but in mainstream entertainment, since that's what we're dealing with here, very little changes except for perhaps the scope of maybe what we consider attractive. Now there is a wider net cast, in terms of skin color, hair color, and eye color. It used to be one thing, and now there are more things—but there still are some pillars of what beauty means, and thin is always there, and Western features are always there."

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5. Abby and Brian have phone sex.

"Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Believe me, I am so deeply ashamed of that kind of thing, even in my personal life, let alone with a crew around. I can't tell you how uncomfortable that made me. But I think it was a good scene in that it was something I think a lot of people did relate to: the type of relationship you have with somebody in the safety of your home on the phone. Now, online—but then, on the phone.

I just personally was embarrassed beyond belief to do that, and then knowing that my dad was going to go see it, and my siblings, and my grandparents. If any of my friends would see this—oh my God."

I can't tell you how uncomfortable that made me.

6. Abby and Brian end up together, despite the huge lies that Abby told.

"This is going back a very long way here, but I believe the original intent was that they not wind up together romantically, but they become good friends who respect and learn from one another...[It would have been more satisfying to end with a] friendship, without Abby feeling so badly, saying, 'Please, accept me back.'

But not the standard kissing scene at the end, as much as I love Ben Chaplin. Believe me, kissing him was no hardship whatsoever. But it's just one of those go-to third acts that everybody knows is gonna happen."

7. In the final scene, there's a complicated reunion that involves Hank and some rollerskates.

"Why would anybody say, 'Take a paper bag, put on these roller skates, don't ask questions'? Who the hell puts on skates out of a bag and has the dog pull her to a person on a bench? But you know what? People seemed to like it."

Janeane Garofalo's 'If I May' premieres October 27 on Seeso.

Estelle Tang Senior Editor Estelle Tang is the former senior editor of ELLE.com.

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