Dog Park
D: Bruce McCulloch (1999); with Luke Wilson, Natasha Henstridge, Bruce McCulloch, Janeane Garafolo, Mark McKinney. Every generation has had some form of singles fad. The Seventies had bars. The Eighties saw a rise in gym memberships. The Nineties? Well, toward the end of the decade, a clever concept called the “dog park” emerged. Here, men and women could exchange numbers while their pooches frolicked in the grass. Unfortunately, McCulloch’s film doesn’t concentrate on this topic half as much as it could have. Still, it manages to analyze today’s singles as beings who are out of touch with their own identities. So much so that everyone who meets at the dog park associates by using their pets’ names instead of their own. The main character is Andy (Wilson), a nice guy who’s just been dumped. In the process, his ex has taken his beloved dog. Heartbroken but on the rebound, he shares an awkward but nonsexual one-night stand with children’s TV host Lorna (Henstridge), also recently dumped. She’s afraid of getting involved, and he can’t stand to be alone. In effect, they both wind up dating some very dysfunctional people. There’s a few laughs, but the film completely loses focus because too many characters enter the storyline. The film should have been squarely centered on Wilson and Henstridge, but instead we’re introduced to each characters’ ex-loves, workmates, friends, potential lovers, and a dog counselor (McKinney). Likewise, McCulloch’s vision of singles (which seems on target) gets buried underneath a steady shift of sitcom humor (McCulloch, once a member of Kids in the Hall, also directed the Saturday Night Live-inspired Superstar). Perhaps the most difficult thing to swallow is that two good-looking people like Wilson and Henstridge could be so damn lonely. Wilson is fairly credible as a nerdy sad sack, but the statuesque Henstridge is completely miscast. Not a terribly bad effort, but misguided enough to become another forgettable look at contemporary romance.This article appears in July 14 • 2000.