Year of the Dog is a film about Peggy (Molly Shannon) that is a shut in dog lady. In a short time the stage is set beautifully for us to understand how fucking bananas she is about dogs; and we then follow her life after the cataclysmic event of her dog’s death that begins the character’s descent onto woe. At the screening I was surprised to see how much people were enjoying the very dark nature of the comedy; it was a testament to the ability of Shannon’s comedic timing.
The movie sets out fast and strong as a delightful dark comedy. Friends push her to try human interaction which fails miserably. That man that is interested in her – she doesn’t like, the man that she is interested in – doesn’t like her. When she adopts another dog you hope above all hope that her problems will end, but things just get worse with hilarious results.
The character keeps trying to fill the gap in her life that the dog left but nothing fits, and you see her delve further and further into dismay as each direction she turns, she is knocked down again and again (all the time causing you to laugh or cry). The closest placebo she finds is becoming enveloped in the cause of animal rights, which in turn spurns a vegan diet and an obsession with pet adoption. The concern of her friends and family increases as this obsession grows to dangerous levels.
I am a fan of dark comedy and thought this movie was brilliant most of the way
through (we will get to that later). I enjoyed the heavy use of the first person camera work and thought it was appropriate for the film as it made you sit in the seat of the character for this disastrous ride. The climax is a showdown with her neighbor Al (John C. Reilly) who was set up masterfully to become her nemesis. The climax of the movie was perfectly appropriate for someone who had one bad thing after another just beat her down into madness; and a logical turn to the story. and then..
The flaw with the film as far as I am concerned is the ending. I wanted the darkness to follow through and have the movie end with the character in a lunatic asylum, prison or eating dogs on the BBQ. Instead we are given an ending that felt like it did not fit with the rest of the movie. The whole movie seems to set her up for disaster or freedom (from her demons) but we are given neither, instead she is just the crazy dog lady and I left the film feeling that she was just a fucking loser.
Perhaps that was the point, perhaps the movie is an attempt to try show the rest of the world that even losers have a story – and it’s usually thanks to a life of woe.
Do not let my problem with the ending fool you. This movie is very enjoyable, I thought that for a first outing as a director Mike White did a wonderful job. The acting was second to none and each character was chosen perfectly. The story was focused, entertaining and delightful; It simply did not end in the direction that I would of liked to have seen it go.
I give it a GO, or 4 goats out of 5.
Here is a trailer for Year of the Dog
