Bark!

The worst thing the makers of this movie ever did was to categorize it as a comedy. But, they did a lot of things, right, too.

True to its name, "Bark" irritates within minutes of its endurance. You want to shake, Lucy, the barking woman. You are embarrassed for Peter, her husband. You ask yourself, "how could someone possibly endure this?" What the heck is funny about this? But, if you're able to get past the woefully misleading idea that this is going to be a funny movie, things begin to change.

Serious questions are posed. How would you react to a loved one's inexplicable decline into madness? If you were poor, how would you find help? Would you lock them away? Would you endure the madness...or, would you embrace the madness?

I agree with most of the professional pundits in some questionable casting - Lisa Kudrow, especially. Kudrow is a little too wacky, as is D'onofrio's character. But, it's valid to suggest that only humans who are "bent" in someway themselves, would ultimately forgive the eccentricities of others - even to the clinical degree.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who has lived with someone dealing with mental challenge issues. But, while it's light in parts, it's no comedy. And it's not at all as bad as you might expect.

Sean "good boy" Trapani

Peter's (Lee Tergeson) young wife Lucy (Heather Morgan) begins to act like a dog. 'Bark' is a naturalistic account, told with some flashbacks but mostly in chronological order, of how Peter comes to understand how Lucy has gradually slipped off the edge of sanity. What makes 'Bark' a comedy is Peter's success at creating a home and a family of friends for Lucy.

Although mentally ill people have been treated before with levity (think of Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man') I can recall no other film that has approached the subject with such tenderness. Scenes of Peter bathing Lucy and of their apartment manager yelling through the ceiling to get her to stop barking and go back to sleep are original and memorable. Lisa Kudrow is hysterical as a neurotic veterinarian named Darla Portnoy, and Vincent D'Onofrio is convincing as the sad-sack psychiatric resident Malcolm who would rather play the harp.

Lee Tergesen and Heather Morgan saved the movie. Both actors played their parts beautifully. The movie has a very intelligent, sensitive story line, comedy only in the traditional sense - no one dies. Was pleased also that it was not a traditional "happy, Hollywood" ending.

Especially loved Lee "standing up" to the Psycho MD… won't give away the rest.

Lisa Kudrow was Kudrow… Is she really that ditzy in real life, that she's always cast in absolute idiot roles?

And what was with Vincent D'Onofrio? Have never seen him before so I don't know if he's just yet another idiot. His character was such a caricature.

What were all those "lunatic" people there for? They didn't really add anything to the plot. The plot stood on it's own. The "nuts" were superfluous.

Despite all but two of the cast, the movie is worth seeing. The theme of mental illness is extremely well and sensitively portrayed.

there is this awesome movie that is circling 'Starz and Encore' right now called Bark! about this lady who has a mental breakdown and believes that she is a dog. Has a great supporting cast including D'noffrio, Hank Azaria, Lisa Kudrow, as well as leading man Lee Tergesen {better known for his role as 'beacher' on 'OZ'} It has received shitty ratings, and well it is a very low budget piece of crap, but I loved it. It was a fun idea to play with, the chick who played the nut was believable. None of the characters were cardboard 2 dimensional things just there to waste time. All these odd ball people come together, for seemingly no reason, and the weirdest reasons of all, and it some how fits. Life is like that, but this had great emotional depth by Tergesen, and I'd never seen Kudrow in a sexier role. I have nothing but good things to say about all the actors in the flick, that's my 2 cents. GO SEE IT AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND IF YOU LIKE IT! DON'T LISTEN TO ME!

Don't be mislead by the trailer. Sure, the film is chock full of really funny bits, but they serve to offer comic relief to a truly poignant story of a woman with a terrible mental disorder, her husband who is at the end of his tether, a statement on the treatment of mental disorders by "let's just make her a vegetable", a vet who doesn't really know where her heart is going and finds herself falling in love with the husband who comes to her for advice, a resident shrink who would rather be practicing his harp than medicine and gets himself fired for practicing psychiatry in a broom closet and on house-calls for cash, and a buddy who boasts of being fired from a job about every six weeks because he feels oppressed by "the man." Good character development. The plot has good resolution. A mix of angst, laughter, and warm fuzzies. Memorable line: The buddy tells the resident, "Stick with the harp. You can't get fired from playing the harp." Good film.