Compared to other period comedies (most notably Wu Yen, which also featured a retelling of a traditional story with women playing men), Cat and Mouse is fairly light on the comedic side of things. There's a little gentle slapstick here and there, and some mild humour mainly from the use of anachronistic language in a period setting (Song Dynasty), but this never reaches the level of outright farce displayed in Wu Yen (or more recently, The Lion Roars). Instead, the film is similar in tone and style to something like Andrew Lau's The Duel (minus the CGI effects).

Of all the recent period comedies, I would probably rank Jeff Lau's Chinese Odyssey somewhere near the top, and Cat and Mouse in the middle. The film certainly has the production values, with a decent cast and nice costumes and settings, but where it falls flat (aside from presenting Cecilia with a beard) is in the storyline. The movie meanders along with little urgency in the first half, wasting a lot of time showing Andy Lau and Anthony Wong sitting in a bath, and the central narrative element (the attraction between Cat and Mouse) doesn't really start until the second half of the film (so that when obstacles and antagonists are finally introduced, the audience simply does not have enough invested to care too much one way or the other about the outcome).

There are a few fight scenes involving lots of wires, but they are too short to really add much excitement to the film. There's also an "Indiana Jones" type final reel that seems rather out of place.

In the end, I'd give it a marginal recommendation. Worth checking out if you like the genre or the leads - everyone else won't be missing much...