Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I never got a chance to see this one, either, a result of my ugly, ugly schedule. But I’m planning to catch up with it while it’s in theaters. Capone’s already seen it, though, and had this to say:

Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

For the record, I'm not a dog person, so I was not predisposed to like a movie in which the central character is loopy for dogs. Closing in on middle age, Peggy (Molly Shannon in the best role of her career) has settled into a content, bordering on happy, life with her pet Beagle named Pencil. Pencil sleeps curled up next to Peggy in bed, eats at the same table, and they even have a standing Friday date night to watch a movie together. No Christmas card from Peggy is without sweet Pencil. One night Pencil strays into a neighbor's yard (owned by new neighbor John C. Reilly), and in the morning turns up mysteriously dead. The incident marks a turning point in Peggy's life: will she simply get another pet or will she take this as a sign that's it's time to make interacting with people a priority. After a largely unsuccessful date with Reilly takes a turn toward the ugly when Peggy discovers potentially dog-killing poisons in his garage, she turns toward an animal shelter worker (a sexually ambiguous Peter Sarsgaard) who seems to share her passion for canines.

The intensely dark comedy YEAR OF THE DOG has as many good laughs as it does deeply uncomfortable scenes involving Peggy and her attempts to get closer to Sarsgaard, whom she thinks is throwing off signals of love in her direction. She adopts a new dog that is aggressive, destructive and loud, and this causes all sorts of problems for Peggy. Her job as a legal secretary is in jeopardy when she gives funds to animal rescue charities without clearing the donations with her boss. And she even manages to alienate some of her closest friends, including one played by Regina King.

Written and directed by Mike White (an actor whose seen a great deal of success as the screenwriter of such films as SCHOOL OF ROCK, CHUCK & BUCK, and THE GOOD GIRL), YEAR OF THE DOG is an unpredictable, sometimes disturbing piece that I found wholly satisfying and impossible not to laugh along with. At times, Peggy is pathetic and desperate; other times she borders on psychotic. One of many great moments is when she takes her young niece to a petting zoo/farm filled with rescued animals, followed by a detour to a meatpacking plant. Needless to say, her brother (Thomas McCarthy) and his overprotective wife (Laura Dern) are furious. Shannon's performance is a revelation. I've always found her very funny, back to her "Saturday Night Live" years, but this is a layered and fully realized portrait of a confused and transitional person trying to find a new place to plant her feet and her feelings. YEAR OF THE DOG may feel like it's mocking its characters, but I didn't get that vibe from the material. In fact, I felt a great deal of affection for Shannon's character. White (in his debut as a director) is showing us the kind of characters whose lives rarely make it to the big screen: ones whose journeys are at a distinct and troubling crossroads, which just happen to be very funny at times.

Capone