Year of the Dog.

"Screenwriter Mike White has a humanistic proclivity for bestowing outcast and oddball characters with dignity, a propensity he maintains in his sweet if somewhat slim directorial debut Year of the Dog," writes Nick Schager at Slant.

White "directs his latest geek's revenge fantasy like a psychotherapeutically treated Todd Solondz," writes Rob Nelson in the Voice. "His fishbowl universe of prissy suburban breeders, casually sadistic office bosses, and zoophilic outcasts might turn [Molly] Shannon's administrative assistant a touch irritable at the midway point, but, unlike Solondz's, White's humor isn't merciless. If anything, Dog's bark is more like a lonely howl; its comic bite never breaks the skin, and its kisses are sloppy."

Updated through 4/17.

"Not for nothing was White a writer and supervising producer on the beloved television show Freaks and Geeks," writes Matt Singer at IFC News. "He's practically American film's foremost authority on the subject." Meanwhile, "Though Year of the Dog's trailer sells the film as a sweet romantic comedy, be forewarned: this film goes to some dark places. That's not a criticism, mind you, merely an observation."

John Horn reports on how the movie came together in the Los Angeles Times.

Ann Donahue talks with Shannon for Premiere.

Online listening tip. White is a guest on Fresh Air.

Earlier: Franz Lidz's profile of Shannon for the New York Times and "Sundance. Year of the Dog."

Update, 4/12: "Depending on how you look at it - and White leaves you a ton of interpretive legroom - Year of the Dog is either the story of the making of a fanatic or a redemptive tale of a lonely woman finding fulfillment," writes Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly. "It's both, and more besides - a reality-based fairy tale of Southern California as a sun-kissed land filled with normal-looking obsessives, of whom Peggy is by far the least doctrinaire going in."

Updates, 4/13: "Year of the Dog is exactly the kind of story you would expect Mr White to make for his directing debut," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "It's funny ha-ha but firmly in touch with its downer side, which means it's also funny in a kind of existential way."

IndieWIRE interviews White. So does Michael Martin for Nerve.

Cinematical's Kim Voynar finds it "a touching, funny tale about love, loss, and finding meaning in a meaningless world. No, really, it is - just not in the cliched, melodramatic sense."

ST VanAirsdale offers a spoilerific review at the Reeler.

Updates, 4/14: "With pathos competing equally against the often pungent laughs for the audience's attention, it's a movie that is both unsettling and amusing, most comparable to Chuck & Buck in tone," finds Kevin Crust, writing in the LAT.

Michael Fox talks with White for SF360; Nick Dawson for Filmmaker.

Update, 4/15: "Attending a word-of-mouth screening of Mike White's directorial debut The Year of the Dog allowed me my first opportunity to experience the elegant Lettermen Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio," writes Michael Guillén. "Admittedly, though the film engendered a few chuckles, it disappointed for being too slight." But he took notes during the Q&A with White anyway.

Updates, 4/17: "White has populated the screen with unhappy characters for what feels like the intent of gentle mockery," writes Marcy Dermansky. "The compassionate ending, therefore, comes as a confounding surprise."

Alison Willmore interviews White for IFC News.

Posted by dwhudson at April 11, 2007 7:08 AM