The Dogwalker

I read a review of THE DOGWALKER where it said the lead only has a close relationship with the dog in the movie--and I thought that sounded like every guy I've hooked up with!

So I had to see it, and of course, he was like every dude in LA--hot, sexy, and couldn't care less about anyone. Dead on!

I love this movie, it has charm and insight--and exposed the truth about people--where most movies fail to show this--people don't change.

I saw this movie with a friend at the 2000 Palm Springs International Film Festival in early 2000. The biggest thing I remember about it was that it was quite enjoyable from beginning to end- I had no real lapses in interest. A good cast (some of whom were on hand to talk after the viewing) with well-played parts. It's a story about a hard-up slacker who finds a "job" walking an old lady's dog. Little did he know that he was getting into a complex, often humorous, sometimes dangerous web of relationships with the woman's family. If I remember correctly, he become's the family's cook, cleaner, and errand-boy, not to mention the object of the sultry teenage granddaughter's (?) desires. If given the chance, I would definitely see it again.

My god this film was awful.

I would bet my left arm that everyone who made positive comments was a shill for the film company.

Poor acting, sluggish pace, insipid dialog, and that's just when it's good.

The characters are as deep as the a puddle on a sidewalk and equally boring.

I can say that is competently lit though the camera moves are frequently.

Avoid at all costs, you'll never get that time back.

No wonder it took 5 years for this movie to come out.

I watched this flick because TiVo's guide gave it 3 stars, and because the initial characters seemed fresh and interesting. While the most of the characters managed to remain surprisingly rich throughout the movie, the dragging story suffocates the movie experience.

This indie movie may have been made for only $500,000, but that doesn't excuse the slow pace and drifting plot, even if Cameron Crowe thinks it's memorable.

The second-most identifiable problem, after the weak story, is the main character. The actor does a solid job, no fault there. Really, Will Stewart is good. Unfortunately, the character is supposed to be a likable bad-boy, but his unlikable acts include drugs, taking advantage of old people, and leaving an underage girl in a motel room with a druggie friend. His charisma is noteworthy, but I still didn't care about him.

Maybe this movie is stuck in limbo between an R rating and PG-13. Related to this, when the sexual tension between the main character and the mother does pay-off (after having been seemingly forgotten), the event is dull and not as quirky as the music and choreographing seem to imply. The flexibility offered by a solid R-rating might have made this a better flick.

You might like Paul Duran's The Dogwalker if you think drugs are an acceptable way to "take away the pain" of life, and if you loved David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. But even then, no ... just re-watch Mulholland Dr. and struggle to wrap your brain around that story.

My problem with this movie is that it is amoral. I think that any representation of reality should contain an uplifting moral for life, and i think that is an important function of art.

This movie is genuinely funny in parts, but is racist, sexist and in many other respects stereotypical. There is the desperate housewife, the dumb, emotionally-absent husband more interested in playing golf than in his family, the sexually-precocious daughter, the cantankerous mother; and the racial stereotypes placed upon Gerry's three African-American friends are disappointing, as is their involvement with the drug culture. I don't like to think that ordinary people are so shallow as to be deceitful, lying, perfidious, and that drugs are so everyday a part of existence.

Throughout the movie the African-American characters are never more than companions for somebody else, and fail to present desirable social role models.

I'm sure the director would say that there is an overall message of the movie; that is that there is no morality in life. Relationships are short-lived and you just make do with things you've got. So perhaps this movie is realistic, but as i say i hope it isn't; and even then, i don't believe that should be the point of art.

For that reason i give it an 8 out of 10 - it does not shy away from depicting people as they really are, and it is genuinely funny in places, and in fact it is a memorable movie to watch. The only genuine characters are the dog Lucky and Gerry, the drifter. Perhaps that is what the director intended.