Sundance. Year of the Dog.

"Needy human animals straining against the leash of emotional expectations make Mike White's low-key Year of the Dog more situation tragedy than situation comedy," writes John Anderson in Variety. "But Molly Shannon's bittersweet portrayal of its lonely canine-loving heroine, along with a passel of pups trying to steal the picture, make for a satisfying and funny, if ironic, comedy intended for lovers of both the beast and/or sophisticated laughs."

Update, 1/25.

For Mike D'Angelo, writing for ScreenGrab, White, making his directorial debut, "seems constitutionally incapable of tackling any subject without resorting to cheap ridicule" and "constantly vacillates between asking us to empathize with these misfits and prodding us to guffaw at their pain. As usual, I responded by detaching myself altogether."

"Like [Gregg] Araki's Smiley Face, Year of the Dog is an enjoyable, patchy, rambling affair, a series of bittersweet comic sketches strung together with thin wire," writes Salon's Andrew O'Hehir.

Update, 1/25: Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker: "It's not a diss to say that midway through The Year of the Dog I had no idea where the film was going. Like Chuck and Buck, which White wrote, The Year of the Dog takes offbeat narrative asides and refuses to be bound by the rules that govern Hollywood-produced romantic comedies."

Coverage of the coverage: The Park City Index.

Posted by dwhudson at January 24, 2007 2:35 PM