Year of the Dog (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, John C. Reilly, Regina King, Laura Dern
Screenwriter: Mike White
Producer: Dede Gardner, Jack Black, Ben LeClair
Composer: Christophe Beck
DVD Info
Release:
Aug 28, 2007
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio:
- Dolby Digital - English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - 1. Mike White 2. Molly Shannon
- Featurette - 1. A Special Breed of Comedy: The Making of YEAR OF THE DOG
- 2. Being Molly Shannon
- 3. Mike White Unleashed
- 4. Special Animal Unit
- Deleted scenes
- Insert reel
- Gag reel
- Moviefone Unscripted with Molly Shannon and Mike White
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Director Mike White is really good at creating an uneasy feeling in a normal setting. But the question remains, do you want him to?
poly syntoma hanei to stoho toy kai to neronei me synaisthimatikizoyses katastaseis kai pepatimenes koinonikes eyaisthisies, arhizontas toys kykloys gyro ap' ta idia kai ta idia, alla toylahiston ehei merika haritomena kadrarismata kai tin Molly Shannon m
Despite director Mike White's ability to make the heartfelt moments count, the film never makes the grade. The title prompts great expectations for animal lovers; the result is a bit like a doggie bag with a taste of everything, but not enough of anything
What may catch audiences unawares is how unexpectedly life-affirming this little film about pet death is.
The trailer suggests a cheery comedy but brace yourself for some darkness in this shaggy dog story.
Movies need not always be uplifting. Comedies don't always have to be happy. That said Mike White's Year of the Dog is downright depressing without revealing much of the human condition it strives to.
This is a lovely little film about discovering your inner self, the passion that drives you, and then coming out with it.
Year of the Dog isn't quite the comedy it's been marketed as, but there's still a lot to chew on here, notably Molly Shannon's performance as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Loses its way, as if uncertain how to point out its moral and make us laugh at the same time.
With smashing performances and plenty of heart, it joins Bobcat Goldthwait’s recent Sleeping Dogs as a worthy addition to 2007’s woof-and-ready hall of fame.
Oddball comedy about a lonely, dog-loving secretary, Peggy (played, with unsettling intensity, by Molly Shannon).
Shannon, a born comic sidekick, cannot carry the central role; disappointingly, the story sputters out into a sentimental finale.
As you would expect from a writer like Mike White, Year Of The Dog is a smartly scripted, darkly funny work. But from Molly Shannon's performance to White's own ability as a director of actors, there are plenty of pleasant surprises here.
John Cusack gives the performance of his life in this top-class horror.
White also appears to have lost his grip, taking wild stabs at comedy and tragedy and ending up with something that's fractured and fluffy, and definitely not as cute as it thinks it is.
The writer-director’s real talent is in showing that we’re all freaks and geeks in one way or another. It’s just that some of us are better at hiding it than others...
Though the film falters in terms of its lack of a streamlined narrative, there is no denying that it is packed to the rafters with meaty ideas and characters who are charged with a satisfying moral ambivalence.
A risible piece of work with laughs that are likely to remain silent and inside, but they reach you.
With this film Mike White once again proves that he's got an eye for darkness and an ear for character that truly puts what passes for comedy in most films these days to shame.
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