Year of the Dog, He Said

There are laughs in this film, but most of the time you have to wipe away the tears or try to control your angst. Mike White, writer and director of this film, introduces us to Peggy, played by Molly Shannon,who is perfectly cast and performs beautifully. Peggy is a world class old maid, who is dedicated to her little dog Pencil, even as she functions as good employee and maiden Aunt to brothers kids.

Her crises begins when her dog gets out of the house, gets into some unknown poison and eventually dies. This event kicks her out of the normal straight lane of her life. She is convinced by a activist to adopt a large dog that has a history of abuse. The animal is totally inappropriate for her, but she takes it in order to save it. The activist, Newt, played by Peter Sarsgaard, offers to help her train the dog. This brings them into regular and intimate contact. Their relationship seems to be moving toward romance when we find out that Newt is neither homo sexual nor hetero sexual, but celibate

throat. In a fit remorse, she adopts Peggy's disappointment sends her over the edge. Her behaviour is marked by taking up the cause of all animals. She had become a Vegan to impress Newt. Now she steals money from her boss to donate to animal rights causes. She tries to shove stray dogs down every one's throat in order to spare the dogs life. In a fit of depression, she adopts a herd of dogs that she can't possibly take care of. In addition, she begins to imagine her neighbor poisoned her dog, Pencil, either by accident, but possibly on purpose.
While much of this is humorous, Molly Shannon did far to good of a job convincing me that this women is pathetic and lost in life. She seems to want a normal life with a husband and kids, but her insecurity is manifest in her obsession with animals. if this is humor it's black humor.

The funniest scenes to me are her visits to her brother's house. she always brings a gift which is subtly but firmly deemed suspect, by his wife, played by Laura Dern. The neurotic mom always has a question as to the intellectual value or intrinsic danger Molly's gifts present.

My biggest problem with this film, sweet as it might be, is that there is no character arc. Molly is a insecure women who invests her love and attention on animals because she is afraid of human relationships. In the end she is just a more outgoing, maybe courageous, form of the same thing.

My advise is to rent it. it's worth a look , but not at eights dollars