Until last night, I never expected the phrase “that dog movie directed by Ken Marino made me cry” to come out of my mouth, but here we are.
The film is one of those big ensemble flicks where we follow various intertwining plot threads with different characters as they go through the struggles of life, which is made a lot more tolerable with the presence of dogs.
One story revolves around a barista, Tara (Vanessa Hudgens), who uses a lost pup to get close to a cute vet, Mike (Michael Cassidy), who works at a dog rescue across the coffee shop, and ends up volunteering, which gets her working alongside Garrett (Jon Bass), the owner, and he develops a crush on her. Another story involves a morning TV host, Elizabeth (Nina Dobrev), who is forced to work with a former NFL player, Jimmy (Tone Bell), after a awkward encounter on her show made his presence popular. Despite initial hostility, they find common ground when their dogs become good friends.
Meanwhile, there’s Dax (Adam Pally), an aspiring musician and overall slacker who has to take care of his sister’s dog while she and her husband (Jessica St. Clair and Thomas Lennon, respectively) deal with their newborn twins. Then there’s Walter (Ron Cephas Jones), a lonely widower who forms a bond with a pizza delivery guy, Tyler (Finn Wolfhard), after his pug runs away. And finally, we also follow Grace (Eva Longoria) and Kurt (Rob Corddry), a couple who adopts a young girl, Amelia (Elizabeth Caro). She is having trouble adjusting to her new life, but things turn around when she finds a pug wandering by itself. And in an effort to hold onto her first expressions of joy, the couple keep the pug as they attempt to find its rightful owner.
It may seem like there’s a lot going on, but writers, Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama, and director, Ken Marino, do a solid job at juggling the various stories, keeping things at a good pace, and getting some strong moments when they do cross each other’s path. The film is just under two hours, which is a tad excessive, but it doesn’t feel it. After all, what the movie nails is creating a pleasant atmosphere that just washes over you.
It’s also admittedly rather simplistic and beyond predictable, but I don’t think they are inherently faults. This isn’t the kind of film you watch because you want to be challenged, or because it’s bringing something you’ve never seen before. Its ambitions are modest and always in check, and everything in its craft is meant to evoke the sort of feel-good, hangout quality that you’d want from a film that is all about the joy of being around dogs.
The film is also very funny. Ken Marino showed with How To Be A Latin Lover that he has some solid chops as a comedy director, and while this wasn’t what I expected for his follow up, he continues to show a lot of promise. There’s a lot of fun gags, the timing is precise, and there are moments where the humor stretches into edgier and stranger territory. The jokes don’t rely too much on easy slapstick routines that you’d normally see in family comedies, and nor does it rely too much on dog reaction shots (though, there are plenty). There are moments of wit, moments of bite, and sequences that certainly caters to the older audience members.
It also helps that the cast is totally game for it all. Granted, they’re hardly stretching for these roles, but it’s also no easy feat to provide a light and charming presence. The characters, for the most part, act like real people, and not the kind that would knowingly mug to the camera because “it’s a family movie and nobody cares.” The performances, even the ones that are there for purely comical reasons, come across as achingly sincere, and the movie needed that sincerity to make it all work.
No one goes into something like Dog Days expecting anything more than having a good time with some cute dogs, and on that level, it totally delivers, and without any of the cynical moves that you might usually find with stuff like this. I found myself charmed and amused and delighted and emotional. It’s a nice distraction, and while it doesn’t necessarily make for high art, I think it still provides a valuable service, which leans on the more therapeutic side of artistic expression. Dog lovers are certainly going to have a blast with it, and honestly, it’s just nice to see a film go out of its way to discuss the importance of adopting shelter dogs. If that element resonates with audiences, this movie could theoretically do more good in the world than most “important” movies.