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Must Love Dogs [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: Diane Lane, John Cusack, Elizabeth Perkins, Christopher Plummer, Dermot Mulroney
Director: Gary David Goldberg
Format: AC-3 Closed-captioned Colour Dolby Dubbed DVD-Video Subtitled NTSC
Released: 18 Apr 2006
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

A pretty good cast is wasted in this romantic comedy - By: Lawrance M. Bernabo, 23 Dec 2005
"Must Love Dogs" is not so much a bad romantic comedy as it is a disappointing one. That is because it features a strong cast that has Diane Lane & John Cusack as the romantic leads, with Elizabeth Perkins, Christopher Plummer, Dermot Mulroney & Stockard Channing is the supporting roles. I had a crush of Diane Lane when she was on the cover of "TIME" for being in "A Little Romance" & was grateful when she grew up so that such feelings were no longer inappropriate. I have liked John Cusack since before "Say Anything" (starting with "Eight Men Out" in fact), & have admired his choices for roles (and siblings). Put these two together in a romantic comedy & I might actuallly go to the theater to see it instead of waiting until it comes out on DVD. But I did not & I have to say I am glad that was the case.

Sarah (Lane) is a kindergarten teacher who is now divorced & her family refuses to let her walllow in despair. So her sister Carol (Perkins) puts Sarah's profile on an Internet dating service, using her high school graduation picture & the word "voluptuous." Meanwhile, Jake (John Cusack), who is also now divorced, finds that his friend has answered Sarah's add placed by Carol in his (Jake's) name. So Sarah & Jack meet, each taking a dog that does not belong to them, & it does not go well. This strikes us as being odd since they are obviously perfect for each other (their names appear before the titles, which is always a good clue). But then when Sarah answers a personal add in the paper it turns out to be placed by her widowed father (Plummer), so odd is apparently her lot in life. Besides, Sarah is interested in Bob (Mulroney), the father of one her students, even though obviously he is charm without substance. Consequently, you have this 98-minute film, take off five minutes for the end credits & add another five to that total & figure out that at around the 88-minute mark Sarah will (a) figure out Jake is the guy for her & (b) do something about it.

The 2005 film is based on Claire Cook's novel, but since Gary David Goldberg did the screenplay & directed the film the fault lies not with the stars but with the guy who created "Family Ties" & "Spin City." For me the point where the film derails is when Sarah goes to the store to buy a chicken for dinner. The butcher tries to push a complete fryer on her for an extra 75 cents, but she does not want it & finallly explodes. The guy is not hitting on her, just trying to help, so instead of the scene being comic because she has to confess to being divorced & not needing more it just makes her seem rude. It sets up a running gag with a bit of a payoff at the end, but by then it is too little too late.

You understand that the characters are behind the viewers in that we know these two will end up together & they do not. There are obstacles thrown in their way, but they are so minor & transparent they should not matter. Then we get to the point where Sarah realizes she reallly likes Jake & goes to tell him only to discover he is on a date. This would be a bad sign. But the date in question makes it painfully obvious that she is from Pluto while Jake is from Venus (I also love "Doctor Zhivago"). The girl should be the only one in the scene who does not know that Jake is going to unhook her & throw her back in the sea, but, no, Sarah cannot see the obvious either (Jake sure can). The final nail in the coffin is when we get to the grand romantic gesture at the end that brings the couple together, because compared to standing there with a ghetto blaster playing "In Your Eyes," what this film comes up with is alll wet.