Puppy love?
Following
in the footsteps of Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider, Saturday
Night Live alumni Molly Shannon steps into a feature film
starring role with Year of the Dog. Thankfully, this
is superior to most things Sandler has done – and everything
Schneider’s done – in the movies.
That could have something to do with Mike White,
the writer behind The Good Girl and School of Rock,
and the director of Nacho Libre – who wears both
hats in this production. He uses a smart, witty script to craft
a film that hits most of the right notes.
Although it outwardly resembles a romantic comedy,
White pulls a few surprises that make this quite an unusual film
experience. It’s certainly a low-budget production, but
one that has a great deal of heart and soul.
Our central character is Peggy (Shannon), a 40-year
old woman whose only really close relationship is with her dog
Pencil. One night however, Pencil wanders into the yard of her
rather obnoxious neighbour Al (John C. Reilly), and is found the
next day very ill. Peggy rushes him to veterinary care, but he
doesn’t make it. Her efforts to find a new dog bring her
into contact with Newt (Peter Sarsgaard), a sensitive animal care
worker. Newt is an avid advocate of animal rights – and
a vegan to boot – and Peggy soon becomes attracted to his
ideals. This begins to cause concern for her ‘white-bread’
brother Pier (Thomas McCarthy) and sister-in-law Bret (Laura Dern).
Now,
a conventional script would have seen Peggy realising that she
needs something more in her life and hooking up with one of the
men in the movie. White however goes to somewhere far more interesting
and engaging.
The film isn’t as completely successful as
Miguel Arteta’s rendering of White’s script in The
Good Girl; but it’s far more successful than Nacho
Libre. Eschewing the unnecessary wackiness of Nacho,
White finds some extraordinary sides to both Peggy and several
of the other characters.
As Peggy, Molly Shannon does a great job in the
lead role. She actually takes a lot of risks with the part, including
not wearing makeup for much of the time. Although she’s
not as out-and-out funny as SNL viewers might recall
her, but that’s not what the character is all about. Peter
Sarsgaard is as usual excellent in a rather unconventional role
for him. Laura Dern drips with false sincerity as Bret; while
John C. Reilly appears to be having a great time as the odious
Al.
Year of the Dog is a sweet, well-meaning
and ultimately very watchable film. It won’t necessarily
appeal to all points of view, and is even quite challenging to
what might be regarded as ‘conventional’ thinking.
But thank goodness for White’s unconventional thinking in
bringing this lively and charming film to life.
David Edwards
