Review of Year of the Dog (2007) by Andrewk. — 26 May 2007

Wow. I can't believe how harsh some of these reviews were. I consider myself to be a good judge when it comes to films. I guess I can see some of the things that people are saying, but I loved this film myself.

Molly Shannon, while I worried at first that I wouldn't be able to take her serious due to her facial expressions reminding me so much of her silly characters on SNL, really surprised the hell out of me.

She was amazing. I hope that this will bring her more work, because she is very good. I completely related to the way she would be the good listener with everyone she knew even though she really wasn't as interested in them as she pretended to be.

Maybe that sounds shallow of me, but I think that a lot of people make their problems out to be so important to the people around them and sometimes all you can do is nod and humor them. Maybe some of the characters were a little one dimensional, but I don't really expect much more depth in these peripheral characters.

I think the point is that she's not really all that interested in them because they actually do lack depth. Needless to say, I thought that Laura Dern and Peter Saarsgard and Regina King and Josh Pais did a great job.

They were all irritating in some way, especially Laura Dern, who reminded me of some of the parents my mother has to put up with as a teacher. I can see how some would compare Mike White's directorial style to Jarod Hess.

It did have a Napoleon Dynamite type feel, and it even featured one of the same songs near the end of the film. This was a very sweet movie and I think that the statements it makes about animal cruelty are actually very important and are not meant to be taken as a joke.

Molly Shannon's character is very real. I felt great sympathy for her. I don't know what separates the people that don't like this movie from those that do, and so I think that it deserves a shot from all movie lovers.