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Year of the Dog (2007)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 141
Fresh: 98 | Rotten: 43

Year of the Dog is a warm and quirky comedy that never condescends to its eccentric characters.

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 7

Year of the Dog is a warm and quirky comedy that never condescends to its eccentric characters.

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Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 40,706

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Movie Info

An unremarkable administrative assistant finds her life going to the dogs both literally and figuratively in actor/screenwriter-turned-director Mike White's dark comedy drama. An inexplicably cheerful office worker whose somewhat sad excuse for a life seems to revolve around her pet beagle Pencil, Peggy (Molly Shannon) seems to relate better to her four-legged friend than she does to most humans. Most of her person-to-person interaction revolves around doting on other people's children and

PG, 1 hr. 36 min.

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Directed By: Mike White

Written By: Mike White

In Theaters: Apr 13, 2007 Wide

On DVD: Aug 28, 2007

Box Office:$1.5M

Paramount Vantage

Year of the Dog asks how far we should be willing to go for the love of animals, and for that matter, for love itself.

May 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Slate

| Comment

Dana Stevens

Slate

Top Critic

White's humanist account of a woman more comfortable with animals than people is another intricately crosshatched sketch in his gallery of outsiders.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

| Comment

Carrie Rickey

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

Much is said in little moments: The entire cast offers jots of humor and insight, from Reilly and Sarsgaard to Laura Dern as a spiny sister-in-law and Regina King as Layla, a vehemently supportive friend.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

| Comments (2)

Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

Year of the Dog is a feel-good, feel-bad movie about personal choice in the face of an overwhelming world. It brings more than you expect and leaves you wondering. How extraordinarily brave.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit News

| Comment

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

Year of the Dog has been perfectly cast, and Shannon is a small revelation; shorn of the antic energy she has invested in her sketch characters and, given an actual character to play, she accomplishes something welcome and unexpected.

April 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press

| Comment

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

Top Critic

Year of the Dog has a sweetly off-kilter quality about it, and it also lays claim to an additional virtue: It probably won't remind you of every other dog movie you've ever seen.

April 27, 2007 Comment (1)

Robert Denerstein

Denver Rocky Mountain News

Top Critic

Amid fearsome cataracts of disdain, Shannon somehow survives

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Shannon seems like quite an unorthodox choice for such a subdued, minimalistic character, but White actually wrote the part for her and she does him proud.

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com

| Comment

Heather Huntington

ReelzChannel.com Source: ReelzChannel.com

Director Mike White is really good at creating an uneasy feeling in a normal setting. But the question remains, do you want him to?

March 3, 2008 Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review

| Comment

Jeff Bayer

The Scorecard Review

SNL alum shines as grieving, lonely animal lover.

October 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

Sandie Angulo Chen

Common Sense Media

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

October 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses

| Comment

Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

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

October 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

| Comment

Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

What may catch audiences unawares is how unexpectedly life-affirming this little film about pet death is.

September 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Times [UK]

| Comment

Wendy Ide

Times [UK]

The trailer suggests a cheery comedy but brace yourself for some darkness in this shaggy dog story.

September 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Helen OHara

Empire Magazine

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.

September 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Views

| Comment (1)

Ryan Cracknell

Movie Views Source: Movie Views

This is a lovely little film about discovering your inner self, the passion that drives you, and then coming out with it.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall

| Comment

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

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.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: ViewLondon

| Comment

Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

Loses its way, as if uncertain how to point out its moral and make us laugh at the same time.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment (1)

Derek Malcolm

This is London

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.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Sky Movies

| Comment

Elliott Noble

Sky Movies

Oddball comedy about a lonely, dog-loving secretary, Peggy (played, with unsettling intensity, by Molly Shannon).

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Independent

| Comment

Anthony Quinn

Independent

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Audience Reviews for Year of the Dog

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Year of the Dog, or what could also be called, The Life and TImes of an Animal Activist, focuses on Peggy, played with quirky yet lovable sentiment by Molly Shannon. Peggy is completely passive, and has no companionship in her life, except for her little dog. One day the dog dies and Peggy is forced to cope with the

March 11, 2011

E.J. Boxler

Super Reviewer

This movie sucks. For Peggy, it seems dogs provide the love and attention she needs. But when tragedy strikes, Peggy goes a little crazy. But, I just don't see the point of the movie. It is agonizingly slow. The people in the movie are shallow. And it drives me crazy that Peggy couldn't see that she could be a

May 27, 2009

Red Lats

Super Reviewer

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