“Eat. Sleep. Therapy. Repeat.”
Sometimes a pet can make the biggest difference in a person’s life, either for good or bad. In this Scott Caan film, insecure novelist Solo (Giovani Ribisi) buys a dog that brings him a lot of trouble, and changes his life forever.
The adorable dog, who remains nameless through most of the film is the perfect pet for Solo, independent resourceful and obviously pragmatic about the whole cuddling, cutesy thing. Solo calls in his friend Casper (Scott Caan) a photographer whose main interest in life is women to help him with his dog problems. In a short time everyone wants Solo’s dog and his life becomes a comedy of errors, rather than serious failure.
The Dog Problem is a funny, interesting and touching story. Ribisi is convincing as a novelist who is in therapy because he has written a very bad book that became a best seller and is tormented by embarrassment. So much so that he suffering from writer’s block and can’t work on his next book. He is at the end of his rope creatively, financially, emotionally, and then he gets a dog.
Getting a pet is easy, living with a pet is always an adjustment, and for someone as oddly wired as Solo the complexities of the man/dog relationship are blown completely out of proportion. It will take a lot of work for him to overcome his anxieties and gain confidence as both a dog owner and a novelist.
Yes we all know people who talk like this, and we mostly wish that they didn’t. All the actors in this movie were good in their roles and it would have been just as effective to give them a few well placed “words” and then let them display the quirks through clever dialog and competent acting.
The disc is presented in 16:9 anamorphic full frame presentation with Dolby surround and English and Spanish subtitles. The running time is 89 minutes for the feature, and it is rated R.
DVD features include Filmmaker & Cast commentary with Scott Caan and Giovanni Ribisi, and the theatrical trailer.
Funny and clever by turns, this is an adult comedy. In spite of the humor and the adorable dog, this is not for kids.
The Dog Problem is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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