Pretty Good

Powerful

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This movie is about a cynical and satirical writer with a wife who's character is practically just the opposite of him, fun, open, lively and talkative. As they get new neighbours with a young, mildly disabled girl the story starts to unfold. It's sometimes a laugh out loud funny (witty remarks by Peter hehe ) and sometimes gives you some things to consider. Don't really have much time now, but overall the movie is well made, characters likable and the movie nicely brings them closer to the audience, you can understand them. It is a movie to watch in the evening when you don't feel like watching all that cgi and shooting and just want something more peaceful,intelligent with quite some laughs in between. Recommended.

This film starts out as a dark comedy but about halfway through it turns on the sentimentality. Story is about a Los Angeles playwright that is in production with his new play and is having a terrible time with re-writes. Kenneth Branagh plays Peter McGowan and along with his play he and his wife Melanie (Robin Wright Penn) are trying to conceive a child and he is having difficulty with that also. Peter chain smokes and is not to crazy about kids but he is introduced to his new neighbors daughter Amy (Suzi Hofrichter) who has cerebral palsy. Melanie's mother Edna (Lynn Redgrave) is suffering from advanced senility and lives with them and Peter is having a difficult time concentrating on his play. And he also has a difficult time sleeping at night because his neighbors dog keeps barking so Peter goes for midnight walks and meets a man from England (Jared Harris) that has been telling everyone that he is Peter McGowan when in fact he's just an obsessed fan. This film is directed by Michael Kalesniko who wrote the screenplay for "Private Parts" and he displays a knack for showing the struggles of a writer but aside from that this is a film that meanders until it eventually wears itself out. Redgrave seems completely wasted as the senile mother of Penn. She has one effective scene with Branagh as she lies in bed but other than that her role is relegated to wandering about their home in a trance. Penn plays her role rather straight forward but she displays real charm that I think she's never really shown before on screen. Not a complicated part but she gives it her all. The film starts out with showing all of Peters quirks and difficulties but once that is done the film wanders and meanders until its reduced to Peter getting very sentimental over his neighbor Amy. Branagh is believable as a writer but all the events that go on around him are not.

In my DVD collection, this film has become a staple movie to watch alone or with any visitors - heck, I think I'll start screening who I could have relationships with by whether or not she loves this movie. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog keeps you laughing through it's entire course, with both subtle and direct wit in the dialogue, a stab at the world of theatre and LA, and to be quite honest a pretty good soundtrack of Petula Clark (Downtown!)Kenneth Branagh acts perfectly in the role of Peter McGowan, along with a cast that works realistically and well together. The only possible remedies to bad acting would be the actors in the play McGowan's creating - let's hope they were meant to BE bad, since "a burrito with method actor filling" would not be my method of choice to describe them... All in all, this film is one of my favorite movies, ranking right up there with films like The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Igby Goes Down, and other dark comedies... WATCH THIS FILM - LOVE IT TOO.

How to kill your neighbor's dog is a comedy that is about a character that is not ready to move onto the next step in life, but upon meeting a new neighbor's kid, befriends her. Their mutual relationship somehow inspires one other to reach beyond what each think is their boundary, and ultimately, allows them to grow up and out of their shells.The movie is moving without getting all sentimental, and its humor is deft and quirky.Branagh is great in this role, taking a break from the usual serious role and immersing himself into this character totally, truly allowing us to believe his transformation from a total jerk to a person who became enlightened.