A comedy about misfits in which a veterinarian becomes involved with a client, whose wife has begun acting like a dog. Darla is the vet while Peter is the frazzled husband, whose marriage is... Read allA comedy about misfits in which a veterinarian becomes involved with a client, whose wife has begun acting like a dog. Darla is the vet while Peter is the frazzled husband, whose marriage is going to the dogs.A comedy about misfits in which a veterinarian becomes involved with a client, whose wife has begun acting like a dog. Darla is the vet while Peter is the frazzled husband, whose marriage is going to the dogs.
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- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
Wade Williams
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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
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
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.
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.
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.
Having seen the film "Bark', I can but wonder why it has been classified as a comedy. Rather I found it to be a tragedy or perhaps a comment on instinct and human nature. What happens to the very thing that allows a person to communicate? The film answers this question in a way. The cast was capable, but were secondary to the main conflict I think. There was a good deal of discussion about "Bark" in this household and while there were few agreements, it was felt that this film was worth a look. Vincent and Hank seemed to remain true to their on-screen personas as did Lisa, although I have no idea why anyone would watch a film based soley upon her modest talents. Nevertheless, she did her part in this strange but thought-provoking film.
To be honest, I turned on this movie because I thought it would be a fun comedy to have on in the background. It's not. It's a sweet, poignant drama about a guy who's just trying to do what's best for his wife. Lee Tergesen (HBO's "Oz") is fantastic as Peter, the confused, loving husband of a woman who's suddenly started acting like a dog. The pain and love he's feeling shines through clearly, yet he's by no means perfect. He's just a guy who's had a unusual problem dumped on him, and the problem of trying to get people to take him seriously is one of his biggest problems. The best scenes are the ones in which he simply watches his wife; everything he's feeling, from the love to the frustration, comes pouring through. Heather Morgan is fascinating to watch as Lucy, his wife. Her physical acting is very good, very much in sync with how dogs often act. The supporting cast is great, too; nearly all of the characters have a purpose, rather than being scenery. Hank Azaria is wonderful as Peter's ne'er-do-well friend, Lisa Kudrow's cute as his neurotic, sexy vet, and Vincent D'Onofrio's coolly creepy as a psychiatric resident with a bit of an ethics problem and a desire to do something else. Together, all these characters form an odd collection, but it works. The key to this movie is to remember that--no matter what the critics say--it's not a comedy. It's a drama, though admittedly a quirky one, and a very good one at that.
Did you know
- TriviaKasia Adamik's debut as a director.
- Crazy creditsAfter every five cast credits there are scenes of the Birthday Party/Celebration for Lucy's first birthday as a dog. Peter, Lucy, Darla, Malcolm, and Sam are present along with the family dog & the birthday cake has a dog bone on it.
- ConnectionsReferences Fidèle vagabond (1957)
Details
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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