{"id":705,"date":"2008-03-18T21:03:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T01:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/18\/year-of-the-dog\/"},"modified":"2022-10-08T11:53:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T15:53:06","slug":"year-of-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/year-of-the-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"You can love your pets but not LOVE your pets in Mike White’s Year of the Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Netflix queue is, by its nature, the opposite of the instant gratification of a rental store. You add movies you think you might want to see some day, then sit back and wait for them to arrive in an order decided by computer, according to factors and algorithms outside of your control. Enough time had passed since I added Year of the Dog<\/em> that I could no longer recall why. Possibly I read a good review somewhere, or maybe I was curious about the sudden reappearance of Molly Shannon (part of “my” Saturday Night Live of the mid-90s — am I right that people feel the most affection for the SNL cast of their college years?). But I feel baited and switched; this is not a drama or romantic comedy but rather a movie with an agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/director Mike White’s Year of the Dog<\/em> is a feature-length dramatization of Janeane Garofalo’s gag “You can love your pets, but you can’t love<\/em> your pets.” Not unlike Lily in Eagle Vs. Shark<\/em><\/a>, Peggy (Shannon) is a gentle sweetheart, but alienated and lonely. Her relationship with brother Pier (Thomas McCarthy from The Wire<\/em> Season 5) and sister-in-law Bret (Laura Dern) is distant at best, and her closest friends are oblivious workmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Molly
This commute’s a bitch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When she loses the unconditional love of her dog Pencil, she becomes hungry for, as she puts it, a single word to define her. On a date with Al (John C. Reilly), Peggy demonstrates a dislike of hunting, the seed from which her new fervor for an animal activist lifestyle grows. Her one word, she decides, is to be “vegan.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her new life teases her at first with the possibility of love with Newt (Peter Sarsgaard), but he is too much like her, or what she might become: unable to love humans nearly as much as animals. From here, the tone shifts to the disturbing, as Peggy causes her life to fall apart. Her clumsy activism costs her her job and family, and she soon descends to theft and attempted murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Molly
You can love your pets, but you can’t LOVE your pets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And yet, the movie appears to present her ultimate state as a happy ending of sorts. She chooses to be friendless and unloved, but has found meaning and purpose. The most important part of the movie is missing: what happens between Peggy hitting rock bottom (where she becomes unable to function in society) and her total ascendance as a self-assured being? I don’t buy the sudden switcheroo that it’s all OK because she has discovered herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would real-life animal activists find Peggy and Newt amusingly exaggerated versions of themselves, or insulting stereotypes? Even as I am the owner of two rescued casts, it strikes me that choosing the love of animals over that of people is a kind of mental illness that begs for correction, not celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netflix queue is, by its nature, the opposite of the instant gratification of a rental store. You add movies you think you might want to see some day, then sit back and wait for them to arrive in an order decided by computer, according to factors and algorithms outside of your control. Enough time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[146,1025,149,1026],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-john-c-reilly","tag-mike-white","tag-molly-shannon","tag-peter-sarsgaard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/year-of-the-dog-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-bn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":971,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/talladega-nights\/","url_meta":{"origin":705,"position":0},"title":"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby fails to amuse","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What was I thinking when I rented this turd? Oh yeah, that Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby might be a funny, entertaining diversion. One can't always watch grim tales of abortion in Communist Romania or the death of a small town's entire generation of children. I had long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "0 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"0 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/0-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Talladega Nights","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/talladega-nights-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/talladega-nights-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/talladega-nights-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/talladega-nights-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/talladega-nights-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5136,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/spacehunter-adventures-in-the-forbidden-zone-1983-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":705,"position":1},"title":"Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is bad and bonkers, but never boring","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Lamont Johnson's Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is definitely a bad movie, but also definitely not a boring movie. Possessed of a slightly bonkers energy, the plot races from one crazy incident to the next. 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BRAD'S DEN - NIGHT BRAD slumps in his sofa, staring morosely at his TV as the end credits of Mike White's movie Brad's Status\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brad's Status","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brads-status.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brads-status.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brads-status.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brads-status.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/brads-status.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5349,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/deadwood-2019-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":705,"position":3},"title":"Modern America is born out of lawlessness and chaos in David Milch’s Deadwood: The Movie","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"What an improbable treat, in an age of unasked-for sequels, that one of pop culture's most notorious cliffhangers would receive resolution. The HBO series Deadwood is not only one of their most acclaimed productions, but also the most lamentably unfinished. Its abrupt cancellation in 2006 was followed by persistent but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Deadwood","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/deadwood-movie-al.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/deadwood-movie-al.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/deadwood-movie-al.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/deadwood-movie-al.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/deadwood-movie-al.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":627,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-10-most-disappointing-movies-i-saw-in-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":705,"position":4},"title":"The 10 Most Disappointing Movies I Saw in 2007","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was compiling the best and worst movies I saw in 2007, I found I still had enough for a special category: movies that absolutely don't deserve to be called bad, even when it's just me here talking to myself on my stupid blog. But for one reason or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stardust","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/stardust-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/stardust-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/stardust-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/stardust-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/stardust-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1860,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/revolutionary-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":705,"position":5},"title":"Nothing to Say and No Way to Say It: Revolutionary Road","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The first few minutes of Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road feature one of the boldest jump cuts this side of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) meet cute out of a crowd of Beatnik hipsters at a loft party. Like any flirting young couple, how each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/revolutionary-road-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/revolutionary-road-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/revolutionary-road-featured.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/revolutionary-road-featured.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/revolutionary-road-featured.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6141,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/6141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}