Year of the Dog

If you like those sort of dark, sort of funny, sort of heartbreaking movies like Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Chuck and Buck, and the Good Girl--you'll probalby like this one. The dude who wrote those last two I just mentioned wrote and directed this. What I liked: 1. I liked that it starts out like so many formula-movies, Cinderella stories, and then wasn't the formula at all. It was the anit-formula--and sure that is a formula too, but it's not one I see that much. What the hell am I talking about? Well I could say more, but that would ruin it for you. 2. I liked that it was full of quirky, complicated, sometimes/somewhat/or not at all likeable people. They weren't all good or all bad. The likeable people do bad things. The unlikeable people do nice, surprising things. I am tired of movies where somebody sees a beautiful flower, gets a smile from a child, or gets a good talking to, and completely changes. Some people try to change in this movie, or at least try to get out of their misery. Some people try desperately not to change. But hardly anybody changes much at all. 3. I liked that I never really knew what might happen. Is the little girl going to get attacked by chickens? Is Valentine going to lose it? How far is Peggy going to go? Was it all going to go really bad? It kept me in suspense. 4. I liked the acting. The characters seemed real. They played it straight and didn't condescend. And Molly Shannon is a good cry-er. Peter Sarsgaard (I hope I spelled it right cuz I aint looking it up) cried real good too. 5. It wasn't too long. It wasn't too short. It was just right. What I didn't like: 1. It was kind of boring in the middle. 2. It was kind of like all those other movies I mentioned a little too much.