How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)

That was an excellent one.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I loved this movie. I'm amazed to see how poorly it did at the box office. I blame the title. It was funny, heartwarming, sweet and meaningful. As always Kenneth Branagh was terrific in a tricky like him/hate him role. Robin Wright was great as his wife, in a struggle with the husband she loves about whether or not to have a baby. And why hasn't Suzi Hofrichter (who played Amy, the young neighbor girl) become a big star? She stole the scenes with Branagh-not easy to do. Of course, Lynn Redgrave can do no wrong-a moving though subtle performance. Even the periodic music (loved hearing the old Petula Clark songs) was fun. I wish it could be redistributed with a new title and promoted properly. Until I happened upon it on a cable channel I had never heard of it. I highly recommend this movie to all except younger children (due to language and some medical scenes-not gory or anything, but personal).

The title doesn't actually fit the movie in my opinion. The movie teaches a lot such as the root for not a thing is nothing and many others. The lead character is not at all shy and hates everything and everyone except his wife and Amy. Sometimes I think though that Ms. Wright-Penn is going to burst a vein in her neck from arguing with him. After a half hour you get tired of listening to him belly-ache and just want him to start being more like his mother in law! Which is quiet. It is chuck full of quick witted material though. But it doesn't deserve 3 stars from TV Guide when movies such as The Break-Up only rates 2. Are you kidding me, TV Guide rating people? Just because an actor has an accent doesn't mean he deserves a 3 star rating.

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.

some SPOILERS contained"How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog" is a low-budget independent film that had its largest audiences at various film festivals. Branaugh and Penn give fine performances. He is the jaded writer who had greater success "a few years back" and seems to be looking for a muse. Penn is his steady, understanding wife and she plays it perfectly. He is writing a play and the film cuts to rehearsals now and then, and it is clear that the muse is still lurking but not present.Things change when a small girl with a bad leg moves in next door with her single mother. At first Branaugh wants nothing to do with her, as he has thus far also avoided fatherhood. But the little girl grows on him, through her he learns how children really express themselves, his writing improves, she has become not only his muse but also shows him the joy of sharing your life with a child. The overprotective mother takes her child away when she thinks the dance Penn taught her was too strenuous, the mother and father reconcile, it is a sad scene when the little girl must leave. There is a side story, a vagrant aspiring writer stalks then befriends Branaugh, he and Penn hear a shot at night, go out to find a dead dog in their yard.DVD is very basic, no extras, no surround sound, but adequate. Not a great film but nonetheless very entertaining, my wife and I thought. Robin Wright Penn has become one of the better, understated female actors of modern times.