For our family movie night, we watched Life with Dog, a film which was sent to us by Mill Creek Entertainment for our review. This DVD will be available beginning June 4th at Walmart stores, and may be ordered online via Amazon.
Life With Dog, starring Corbin Bernsen, Marilu Henner and Chelsey Crisp, is definitely an interesting, well made film. It was not at all what I had expected, but it was really very good!
Many will remember Corbin Bernsen from the television series Psych, but I am old enough to have been a fan when he was a star on Law & Order, playing Attorney Arnie Becker. Marilu Henner has a long career in acting, and I remember her best from the television show Taxi, as Elaine Nardo. Chelsey Crisp is a new name for me, but she also has a long filmography on IMDB. I look forward to seeing more of her acting.
Bernsen portrays Joe Bigler, a man in the depths of grief and anger after the death of his wife Alice, who is played by Marilu Henner. Their daughter Zoe has tried ever since her mothers death to help her dad, to show him the faith that she has, that her mother always had. Joe is very angry at God though, and will not listen, even when Zoe and Alice’s pastor comes to see him. In that one scene, we saw the outpouring of the reasons for his extreme anger at God.
During all of this, a stray dog shows up in Joe’s yard. Though he tries to shoo him away, the animal is quite persistent, even to showing up inside Joe’s house. Joe (kind of) relents, and names him “Dog.”
A lot of things are happening in this relatively short (106 minutes run time) movie, but it’s packed in well, without seeming rushed to my family. One of the major parts of the plot is that a developer has been buying up homes where Joe lives, and he’s refused to sell his house. He gets the idea that the developer had Alice killed, hoping that Joe would be so despondent that he would sell to get away from his grief. Because there has been no proof that her death was anything other than an bicycle accident, he’s gotten angrier and angrier, coming up with suspect after suspect, including the bank which sends a foreclosure notice after he doesn’t pay the mortgage for several months.
We very much enjoyed Life With dog! It is well written and directed by Corbin Bernsen. The only thing that I was disappointed in was the ending, I wanted more. But then, a good story does make me want more, whether in books or movies, so there’s that! I do recommend this film. My whole family watched it together, and we enjoyed it. We had much good discussion about the plot and what we got out of it.
Please be sure to click on the picture just below and read about this film from the view of 49 other Review Crew Members.
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