Dogs (and cats too) can be the stars of movies. Rin Tin Tin and Lassie are classic animal film
stars … Old Yeller too (that was a tearjerker), Cujo (scary) and we all
know the animated ones from Charlie and Itchy in All Dogs Go to Heaven to
all of those little spotty guys and gals in 101 Dalmatians.
But what happens when personifying the family pet becomes an
obsession? That’s what Kasi Brown and
Brandon Walter have cooked up in the Indican Pictures’ July 10 (yes, a Friday
street date) theatrical and DVD release of Gone Doggy Gone.
Based on their own experiences, Brown and Walter co-wrote,
co-directed and star is this award-winning comedy (wins at the 2014 Edmonton
International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and
more) as Abby and Eliott Harmon, self-obsessed thirty-somethings who have
little time for a family, but plenty of time for Laila, their Yorkshire Terrier.
Now filmmakers Brown and Walter could have played this
dog-obsession story several different ways.
A drama (sad couple meet tragedy) or perhaps a family-themed tale (young
couple love their dog and make personal sacrifices to ensure its well-being),
but what we have with Gone Doggy Gone is both a knockout-slapstick
comedy and a satire on pet culture run amok.
The set up involves a series of slice-of-life sequences that
set up the relationship between Abby and Eliott and Laila and then we get to
the introduction of their friend Jill (Shaina Vorspan), a wide-eyed, sad-sack
waif of a woman who is recruited to dog-sit while more pressing issues are
dealt with.
She is smitten with her new “best friend” and everything is
absolutely wonderful … until poor Laila is dognapped!!!
From this point forward it is the doggy-version of It’s
A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. A
road trip, a ransom video, screwy friends, even goofier detectives and a couple
unhinged that are all thrown at you at a breakneck pace. And then there’s Jill … we say no more. Gone Doggy Gone is laugh-out-loud
funny!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment