Though Sleeping Dogs Lie treats its subject and characters humanely, it's unable to overcome the low-budget production and Bobcat Goldthwait's pedestrian directing.
Though Sleeping Dogs Lie treats its subject and characters humanely, it's unable to overcome the low-budget production and Bobcat Goldthwait's pedestrian directing.
A youthful indiscretion threatens to derail the relationship between an otherwise predictable young woman and her nice-guy fiancé in director Bob Goldthwait's revealing look at the high price of honesty in committed relationships. To the unassuming eye, Amy is a normal young woman with a bright future and a fabulous fiancé, but when Amy's probing husband-to-be suggests that the both parties come clean about their pasts before exchanging rings, the revelation that follows may be more than he's
able to handle. Encouraged by her co-worker and mother to speak her peace and put the sexual secret of her past to bed once and for all, Amy's admission to having once participated in an uncharacteristically impulsive sexual encounter throws her wedding plans into chaos and her entire future into question. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Plays into an almost primal fear that there's something so awful in your past that if you spill the beans the other person will split -- no matter how much he or she professes that nothing you could say would ever have that effect.
It's not like Amy was a serial canine abuser, for crying out loud. Had she been, the movie would be much more disgusting but also a lot more interesting and potentially more funny.
Improbably, the movie manages to regroup after its outrageous opening and turn into an unpredictable, almost sweet, romantic comedy about the limits of candour.
[Director] Goldthwait explores his themes more thoughtfully than you'd expect, but ultimately, we know just how things will end. And what's subversive about that?
Bobcat Goldthwait has produced a flm that understands something about the gulf between what men claim they want from women, and the way they behave when we give it to them.
Despite its vomit-inducing revelation, this is a surprisingly sweet romcom with a strong comic performance by Hamilton and some thought-provoking things to say about relationships.
You can rely on Goldthwaite to demolish sentimental notions with the power of a force ten gale, but clumsy filmmaking seriously hampers his idea's own effectiveness, resulting in a rather plodding black comedy.
This shabbily shot comedy about the limits of being truthful is essentially a one-joke premise that spirals into an uncomfortable series of situations.
A large part of the movie's appeal is Page's ability to make both the entire story believable and her character entirely sympathetic, while Goldthwait muses on the price of absolute honesty with your mate.
After seeing the triumphant 'World's Best Dad' I saught out this earlier work from Goldthwait and wasn't disappointed. Tackling the fundamental life questions around truth and honesty in relationships, it dares to challenge the romcom cliche 'honesty is always the best policy'. The headline grabbing bestiality is only
a comedy device but does seem an excessive example to use to make his points.
February 26, 2011
Gordon A
Super Reviewer
"A youthful, impulsive sexual encounter opens the door to a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty."An impulsive sexual encounter from her past haunts Amy, an otherwise seemingly normal young woman with a bright future and nice-guy fiancé. But her fiancé has suggested that the couple be
completely honest and tell each other everything! When Amy finally relents, encouraged to tell the truth by her coworker and mother (neither of whom really knows what she has to disclose), and reveals her secret, all hell breaks loose.ReviewSleeping Dogs" is a sweet little indie romantic comedy about what happens to a nice girl when she admits to her fiancé that she once gave her pet dog a blow job.Yes. You did read that correctly. The nice girl in this movie admits to giving her pet dog a blow job. She performed oral sex on a canine or, if you prefer, she blew the pooch.I thought that "Sleeping Dogs" was just wonderful. Black and mortifying and awful and funny. Black comedy cut from the same cloth as the Todd Solondz movies "Happiness" and "Storytelling". Yes, "Sleeping Dogs" is a little rough around the edges (the lack of budget shows), but the performances are spot on and the script (dealing with serious questions about secrecy and honesty and how much somebody really needs to know about you before it starts to hurt them) is a little gem.The comedian Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed "Sleeping Dogs". He was that loony Zed in some of the "Police Academy" films. Who'd have thought he could make such a good movie? And it is a good film. It's very good. Go and see it.
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