Year of the Dog

Year of the Dog *1/2

Directed by Mike White
Written by Mike White

Starring:
Molly Shannon as Peggy
Laura Dern as Bret
Regina King as Layla
Thomas McCarthy as Pier
Josh Pais as Robin
John C. Reilly as Al
Peter Sarsgaard as Newt

98 Minutes(Rated PG-13 for some suggestive references)
----------------------------------
I really always have enjoyed the films written by Mike White. They have always managed to make me laugh, and they have always been rather smart comedies that manage to depict very realistic characters going through unrealistic situations, and always managing to have some kind of heart. I enjoyed "Orange County," and "The School of Rock," and "The Good Girl." His weaker scripts would include "Nacho Libre," but then again that was supposed to be a somewhat dumbed down comedy, you know for kids. So before seeing "Year of the Dog," which also happens to be his directing debut, I was really expecting something special. It was at the top of the my list for the weekend, and every time I saw the trailer I was looking forward to it even more. So based on that information, and than based on the really low rating, you could probably see what a massive disappointment this film really was. You could probably see what a mess this was, filled with some unlikeable characters, and only a few moments of true comedy and fewer moments of drama where I could actually give a damn about anybody.

"Year of the Dog" is a real potential vehicle for Molly Shannon to go on the road to carrying a more dramatic film. I emphasize the word "potential" because that's all this ended up being. Potential. Shannon plays Peggy-forty, liked among her co-workers and boss, has a couple of friends, no boyfriend, and lives alone. Well, she only lives alone unless you count Pencil, the dog that she loves with all her heart. She sleeps with it, puts lotion on its paws, and even gets used to sitting off one corner of a chair because she always expects Pencil to be laying next to her. Then one morning Pencil is found in the neighbors yard, deathly sick. He dies at the vet of toxic poisoning. Peggy is heartbroken and doesn't know what to do, even though her friend Layla tries to convince her that this is the perfect opportunity for her to try and find a boyfriend. She goes on a date with her crazy hunting obsessed, knife collecting neighbor Al, and when that fails she decides that perhaps she should just get another dog. She meets and develops a crush on Newt, a vet assistant and animal obsesser/vegan who adopts to Peggy Valentino, a large brutish dog who needs training. Peggy suddenly starts to change her lifestyle to the extreme-gives up all animal foods and products, and even ends up donating money to various animal organizations in her boss's name, getting her into deeper and deeper trouble when her job becomes at stake.

Mike White manages to fail at "Year of the Dog" through both the script and the direction. As a script he runs out of plot very quickly, and Peggy isn't interesting of a character enough to make this a decent character study. As a matter of fact, she is more annoying than sympathetic, and irritable instead of charming. Molly Shannon doesn't play her very well, and at times in the beginning, middle, and the eventual end I wanted to punch her in the face. As a director, White doesn't seem to have much inspiration and doesn't really know what to do. So he decides to go 'Quirky 101" and sticks the characters in the middle of the frame and then has them awkwardly delivering their lines. At times I was sure that none of the actors even met each other and they all shot their parts individually. Maybe it was just easier for White to edit that way. This film just irritated me, during just about every single minute. There was a little bit of decent comedy among the supporting characters. John C. Reilly is always worth watching in anything he does, and he is horribly underused here. The highlight of the movie was his date with Peggy, and most of the worthy lines were featured in the trailer. Peter Sarsgaard had moments but also ends up becoming on my bad list as he over welcomes his screen time. Characters like Laura Dern as Peggy's sister in law/obsessive mother are types that we've seen before, although it is kind of interesting how Peggy treats her dogs the same way as her sister in law treats her children. But once again it is a sub-theme that isn't even explored. I didn't even think about that until just this second.

By the end I couldn't see any growth with any of these characters, especially Peggy who is literally in every single scene. She pretty much stays somewhat sad and pathetic the entire time, and even though there were chances for a change towards the end, the very last few seconds pretty much erases any of that compassion you could have had for her. She just isn't interesting and becomes a complete bother to the characters in the film as well as the viewer. I don't know if that was the point, but at least give her some kind of reprieve. White doesn't seem to care about the sub-characters either, and he doesn't give any of them good sign-offs. He also opens a number of sub-plots that he never finishes, including Layla's boyfriend infidelity, and a remarkable silly bit involving her sister in laws fur coats. There's even a quickly discarded love story between Peggy and Newt that was forcefully started, and its only purpose was to really propel Peggy into this other life she gets. I'm not even exactly sure what the point was supposed to be. Peggy seems to be able to rely more on animals than people, since every single person she knows ends up being unreliable and more or less bad. But what a downer of a message this ends up being, especially since she gives up on all men after two bad dates. It's a shame that "Year of the Dog" wasn't better, but I guess that is what happens when a very good writer tries his hand at directing. He should have stuck with the script, put it in the hands of someone a little more competent, and tweaked the writing a lot more. Or just go out and rent "The Good Girl," or even "School of Rock." This is one of the years biggest disappointments thus far.