Dog Park

"Dog Park" is a lukewarm, enjoyable, and critically condemned contemporary romantic comedy which is low on romance, has a quirky "Kids in the Hall" sense of humor (for obvious reasons), and spends most of its time looking at the foibles of relationships. An so-so watch for channel surfers in the mood some light off-the-wall comedy.

My wife and I are regular dog park visitors, and we rented this movie purely on the title. We hoped that Janeane Garofalo would be as good as she was in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. The Truth about Dog Park is that it ain't about dogs, it ain't about parks, it ain't funny, it ain't sexy, it ain't about Janeane Garofalo, and it ain't worth $1.99 on the discount rack.

DOG PARK is a great concept with a decent cast and only fair execution. The characters are not likeable, not even the dogs. And the story is flat. It drags and skips and squirts. It's about as much dog dropping as it is fun. A few light moments, but mostly a yawn. Wait for the video.

I'm a big fan of The Kids In The Hall. I'm an even bigger fan of the "romantic comedy" genre. And, hell, sure, I like dogs, too.

However, while I loved watching the actors and actresses in "Dog Park" (great cast!), I had a problem watching the characters. More often than not, it seemed as if i was simpy observing people recite memorized lines they didn't really believe, while they moved from scene to scene without feeling or knowing why or how they got there.

Whether it was because of the writing, direction, or lack of focus, the movie itself, rather than the characters in it, ultimately seemed to have the biggest feeling of hesitancy and fear of commitment.

This is quite an odd film, but pleasant throughout due to the likeable actors and some laugh out loud moments. There are musings throughout about dating and love, none of which really hit the mark. The ending was somewhat unsatisfying, and loose ends weren't really tied up. In addition, Bruce McCullough, from Kids in the Hall, who directed and wrote the film, somewhat underutilized himself in the movie. He could have added some more hilarious moments for himself, but his Kids In the Hall partner Mark McKinney gets most of the laughs as a dog psychiatrist. I appreciated that it seemed to be trying something new in the field of romantic comedy, and was less predictable than many similar films. Overall, I did enjoy it and would say it is worth a rental, but I can't really justify giving it more than 6/10.