Movie Notes: The Dog Problem

January 28th, 2009

= 4 stars

Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Lynn Collins, Scott Caan
Directed by Scott Caan

Synopsis

Los Angeles writer Solo (Giovanni Ribisi) has writer’s block, is broke, and depressed. At his therapist’s suggestion, Solo buys a small terrier with the help of crass friend Casper (Scott Caan). Hilarity ensues.

The Good

• Ribisi is notably expressive (lots of fidgeting) and randomly quirky — his “itchy” performance sells the fluffy plot.
• Solo and Casper quickly get cold feet with the prospect of a new dog, so they take it to Jules (Mena Suvari) whose random L.A. behavior sets the tone for the rest of the film. She insists on calling Solo “bitch” and asks what color the dog is. The brash sense of humor continues, with strippers, body guard fights, and some odd photo sessions. Surprisingly, I enjoyed most of it.
• Occasionally unique direction kept me interested. In one scene, the camera leaves Solo asleep on a couch to focus on a dark window, remains there until the sun rises, and returns to the first room to watch Solo awaken. There’s also a very inspired montage featuring the dog that blossoms into Walking In L.A. by Missing Persons.
• In addition to the aforementioned New Wave tunage, there’s a spiky keyboard and drums soundtrack by Mark Mothersbaugh, formerly of Devo. The artsy titles feature the music.

The Bad

• Rather “meh” plotwise. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, etc.

Conclusion

Despite the straightforward, boy meets girl plot, The Dog Problem had enough variations on the theme to hold my interest and then some. A cute pet is such a standard element in romantic comedies, it was kind of neat to occasionally see things from their perspective and have Mr. Dog play a more pivotal role. I had no problems enjoying this movie.

IMDB: The Dog Problem
Wikipedia: The Dog Problem
Rotten Tomatoes: The Dog Problem