Kicking the Dog

Very funny dialog-and-antics driven movie - but mostly dialog. Not the typical antics like "I have to lose my virginity this summer", or trying to see a girl naked, or get a date with the hottest girl, etc. Basically it's unlike the movie you think it's going to be. This may be because the box cover has NOTHING to do with the movie (not sure if this is a good or bad marketing ploy or why they didn't just use something from the movie).

It's a sex comedy based around friends just out of college with an older friend and some high schoolers. It has a few of the generic characters from these types of movies - the older guy who still hangs out, the hot high school girl, the geeky kids - but the main characters are somewhat normal - and are just trying to find their way in life while they reminisce about the good old days. And isn't that what we all do when we are settling down - we don't make new fun as much as talk about the fun we used to have?

Drawbacks - too much of the action takes place in 1 house. That's the only big one. Also could have sacrificed some of the stand-alone comedic scenes for a little more story, but that's not too big.

Positives - Very, very funny. Writer has a keen ear for dialog and humor. The actors, generally, are very good. More than half are memorable. Soundtrack is better than most movies, and there are a lot of songs since there are a lot of party scenes. It looks good - by that I mean, the quality is better than most lower budget comedies I've seen.

It's funny. Period.

First off, this is an independent film, basically in the same vein as two of the most famous - Clerks and Slacker. We all know Kevin Smith made Clerks and went on to a successful career. But you may not realize that Slacker was the first effort by Richard Linklater who's second effort was the legendary movie that began as a cult classic and is now a staple of every teen and 20- something - the great Dazed and Confused. Why am I mentioning this? Because I think that Slacker is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It couldn't hold my attention for more than a few minutes and I only laughed two times. And yet Linklater went on to make an iconic movie about high school kids a couple years later. Lammey's Kicking The Dog, although rough around the edges (we'll get into that in a moment), is a hundred times better than Slacker - basically because it's really funny. I read a review that said something like "Linklater's sophomore effort was Dazed and Confused, which is a classic. Lammey's first effort is a superior movie than Linklater's Slacker, so I'm setting my Google alert so I don't miss his next film"

Basically that's how I feel. each went a different route with their low budget indie films. Slacker roamed around town, never staying on a character for more than a few minutes and never being very funny. Kicking The Dog stays in a single home and has a bunch of characters interact with each other in that house. But the key difference - The Dog is really funny. Both films went in these directions because of their budget. But someone saw that Linklater had potential and he went on to make D&C. As far as pure comedy goes, Slacker is not in the same league as KTD. KTD is funny and often hilarious. Show it to a group of 18 year olds and watch their reactions. Yes, the acting is up and down, as is the story. Staying in one house feels awkward at times. But if you just watch and listen to the comedy, it will keep you laughing.

Sorry it's not really a review. I just watched the movie after not seeing it for a few years and tried to see if Lammey made another and I stumbled upon the review comparing it to Slacker, which made me think. If you like teen sex comedies, watch it. You will laugh.

The teen sex genre has been tired since everyone decided to rip off American Pie in the late 90s/easrly 00s. So it's refreshing when a movie comes along that somewhat re-writes the style - and it's actually funnier than most teen comedies - and I dare to say that it will appeal to a wider audience range - meaning from 14 to 40. What it lacks in plot it more than makes up for in laughs.

What we have is a group of friends who have just graduated college and are hanging out at a friends house. I don't know where the parents are at for what seems like 2-3 weeks, but it doesn't really matter. Unlike previous movies in this genre, these guys aren't desperately trying to have sex to lose their virginity - they're just acting like 22 year olds. They want sex, want to get drunk, want to have fun and want to hang out with their friends. And their conversations about life is so perfect and non-stop that you feel like you've been there.

The main story is that the lead actress (elizabeth schimdt is very good and offers an emotional aspect that offsets the boob jokes) is going to graduate school across country while her boyfriend declines a job offer to stay with her, not realizing she's leaving. He feels betrayed and she's confused. She carries these scenes, which saves this underdeveloped plot line. There is also some minor plot lines with some young eye candy as well as some innocent geeks - one of which steals every scene - sometimes with his words and other times with simple expressions.

It only slows a couple times, and never for long. The conversations and jokes come at you as fast as any movie - and much faster than any teen comedy - which makes up for the lack of a great plot (but tell me, how many teen comedies have a great plot) and the fact that too much of the movie is in 1 location. That may be my biggest complaint, I understand it was low budget, but 2 more locations could have made this movie, as they say at the end, "LEGENDARY!" I guess the haters just don't get it. I don't know how. I think of the scenes and just laugh.

A group of friends spend their last summer the have before entering adulthood by....staying at home and having fairly lame parties, full of sexual stories of past escapades and hitting on girls. Oh those wild ones.

This movie is full of frank sex talk that i'd guess is supposed to be humorous, but the movie isn't on for long before it just becomes boring and tedious. It seems that the writer of this was attempting to channel Kevin Smith (old "Clerks" era Smith, the New Kevin Smith is too busy trying to channel Judd Apatow), but lacked the ability to successfully pull it off. What we get is an overlong, unfunny, exercise in tedium.

Eye Candy: Lorianne Dye get topless

My Grade: D-

DVD Extras: Just a theatrical trailer for this movie; and trailers for "Hide", "Stormforce", & "Brother's War"

I have to believe that all the reviews of this movie that have more than one star are written by those who were in the film or had friends that are in it.

It was like watching a porn movie without the sex scenes. A home movie of a fraternity party would have been more interesting. I found myself fast-forwarding just to see if I could find a nude scene or something to keep me interested in this crap of a film.

I hate to be harsh but this film is the worst film I have ever seen and would rather watch someone actually Kick a Dog than recommend anyone waste their time with this trash.

Silver Lining: the fast forward button on the remote!