Romance no Parque

Jeez, I think I saw a different movie. Let's see.....nope, it WAS "Dog Park."

Apparently we have a whole class of film students here who were given the assignment, "Pan a Film and Get Your Review Published" and IMDb was the only place that would put them in print.

Dog Park is fine. It's nice. It's even intriguing. Its humor is low key, except where it's laugh-out-loud, which was in several places when I saw it (25 yr. old black woman and 50 yr. old white guy, 15 rows apart, the only 2 in the theater; we laughed at different parts, but we laughed).

Luke Wilson is terrific, a curious blend of David Duchoveny and Bill Pullman. I'll go to his next movie. Natasha Henstridge can actually act! Brava!

OK, so it's not an Oscar contender. I go into a theater to enjoy a movie, not to trash it, and I enjoyed this one just fine.

I wanted to like this movie. It was an interesting concept of people meeting at a dog park as they struggled to establish relationships. There was good comedic actors and cute pooches. But since it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, I didn't see much comedy and even less romance. All the characters were struggling and not having much enjoyment in their relationships. The actors Luke Wilson and Janeane Garofalo did their job OK but were working with weak material. None of it jelled and some of the characters such as the dog trainer sounded retarded. The dialog was wimpy and desperate at times. Sad. Lame. Lame. Lame.

I liked it a lot. It's about people, not things or action or plot. That's uncommon these days, and should be applauded and supported by movie goers. People complain about f/x flicks, big cash blockbusters, and formulaic "lowest common denominator" pop-trash movies. That's a noble sentiment, but why not walk that talk? Why not get out to the theaters and pay to SEE movies that attempt to break out of the pop-culture molds? One of the reasons f/x (etc.) movies are almost all Hollywood makes anymore is because that's mostly all you and I pay to see anymore. Well, here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is and support something a little bit different.

"Dog Park" had a few annoying "snotty chick" cliches, but not too many, nor too bad. Whether or not this movie represents real life or not, I cannot say. Whether or not a movie, any movie, even SHOULD represent real life--who knows that, either? But, if art, good or bad, is designed to evoke a certain feeling, and certain vibes, then this movie does that very well. The specific events may or may not be "accurate," but the vibe and the results are.

Minor flaws aside-- and they are mostly mere quibbles-- this is a bright, charming, thoughtful movie about contemporary people. I think everyone could relate to, and benefit from, "Dog Park"'s exploration of the heart: its fear, courage, deadness, commitment and connection. I gave this movie an 8 out of 10.

This

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.

"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.