must love dogs

[KLAXXON]

Sarah Nolan (Lane) is a recently divorced pre-school teacher in her 30’s. Although untrusting of men she goes on several dates at the will of her family. Unfortunately these all turn out to be disastrous for Sarah, but hilarious for the viewer. As she is on the verge of writing men off forever her family step in once again and post a personal ad for her on Perfectmatch.com with the tagline ‘must love dogs’.

Indeed she does love dogs but does not actually own one herself and so borrows her brother’s dog when she decides to meet one of the men who has replied to her ad, Jake Anderson (Cusack). Little does she know that Jake also had to borrow a dog for their meeting of lonely hearts. The beginning of their relationship could be smoother, however in the midst of this mixed up modern world just maybe true love could bloom.








Watchable, grown-up romantic comedy with likeable performances and some witty lines.
The Background
The majority of romantic comedies seem to be about people who are either in their mid-20s (e.g. A Lot Like Love) or, at most, their early 30s (e.g. Hitch), so it’s refreshing to see a film where the two main characters are a) divorced and b) over 40. Or rather, it’s nice to see a film like that which isn’t directed by Woody Allen. At any rate, Must Love Dogs is more successful as a romance than as a comedy, but it’s very watchable, largely thanks to the performances of its talented cast.

The Story
The film stars Diane Lane as Sarah, a schoolteacher who hasn’t quite gotten over her divorce. She’s reached the stage where her friends and family are constantly recommending people they think she ought to go out with, to the point where her two sisters (Elizabeth Perkins and Ali Hillis) set up an internet dating profile for her and send her off on a series of amusingly awful dates - the film’s title comes from one of her profile’s requirements.

On one such date she meets Jake (John Cusack), a boat-builder, also recovering from a divorce and also shoved into the internet dating world by his best friend (and, er, lawyer), Charlie (Ben Shenkman). However, just as everything seems to be going well with Jake, things develop between Sarah and the ‘hot dad’ (Dermot Mulroney) of one of her pre-school students.

The Good
Diane Lane makes an extremely appealing lead and there’s good chemistry between her and Cusack, perhaps because of their shared history at the edges of the Brat Pack in the 1980s. Cusack is a lot more mopey than usual (a running gag involves him endlessly watching Doctor Zhivago) but he’s also the funniest thing in the film, particularly when excitedly describing Sarah to his best friend. There’s also good comic support from Christopher Plummer (as Sarah’s poetry-quoting dad), Stockard Channing (as Sarah’s dad’s girlfriend) and Mulroney, who puts his standard too-good-to-be-true nice guy act to good use.

The Bad
One of the worst things about recent romantic comedies is ‘The Bill Pullman Problem’ – namely, when the female lead has a choice between two seemingly nice guys, one of them has to be let down gently and believably. (Usually, it’s the one played by Bill Pullman, as in Sleepless in Seattle). Must Love Dogs gets around this problem more nimbly than most films, but you still feel a little bit cheated.

There are other problems, too, such as an over-reliance on coincidence (even for a romantic comedy) and niggling questions such as exactly where Jake’s money is coming from if he’s never sold a boat. Similarly, the main comic set-piece -a condom hunt- isn’t funny (it didn’t work for Alfie on EastEnders and it doesn’t work here either) and the romantic climax is poorly directed and doesn’t quite hit the right note. That said, there are several witty lines and the relationships between the likeable characters are both believable and engaging.

The Conclusion
In short, Must Love Dogs definitely has its moments and deserves praise for presenting a more grown-up couple than we’re used to seeing in Hollywood romcoms. Worth seeing.





Diane Lane ...  Sarah Nolan
John Cusack ...  Jake
Elizabeth Perkins ...  Carol
Christopher Plummer ...  Bill
Dermot Mulroney ...  Bob
Stockard Channing ...  Dolly
Ali Hillis ...  Christine
Brad William Henke ...  Leo
Julie Gonzalo ...  June
Glenn Howerton ...  Michael
Ben Shenkman ...  Charlie
Jordana Spiro ...  Sherry
Kirk Trutner ...  Deli Guy
Victor Webster ...  Eric
Michael Spound ...  Marc




http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417001/




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