Bark!

Having seen the film "Bark', I can but wonder why it has been classified as a comedy. Rather I found it to be a tragedy or perhaps a comment on instinct and human nature. What happens to the very thing that allows a person to communicate? The film answers this question in a way. The cast was capable, but were secondary to the main conflict I think. There was a good deal of discussion about "Bark" in this household and while there were few agreements, it was felt that this film was worth a look. Vincent and Hank seemed to remain true to their on-screen personas as did Lisa, although I have no idea why anyone would watch a film based soley upon her modest talents. Nevertheless, she did her part in this strange but thought-provoking film.

I really wanted to see this movie because it has one of my favorite actors, Lee Tergesen, in it. While he did a great job as a leading man, the movie was very slow and the plot boring. The premise could have been dealt with better, perhaps with more insight into what caused Lucy to act like a dog. Vincent DiNofrio was also very good. There were a lot of scenes in the movie that make no sense, like when Lucy's parents come to visit. The relationship between Peter and the vet (Lisa Kudrow) made no sense at all. Also, the ending leaves a giant question mark to a movie that already makes no sense. This movie isn't really worth your time, unless you want to see Lee Tergesen in a staring role.

To be honest, I turned on this movie because I thought it would be a fun comedy to have on in the background. It's not. It's a sweet, poignant drama about a guy who's just trying to do what's best for his wife. Lee Tergesen (HBO's "Oz") is fantastic as Peter, the confused, loving husband of a woman who's suddenly started acting like a dog. The pain and love he's feeling shines through clearly, yet he's by no means perfect. He's just a guy who's had a unusual problem dumped on him, and the problem of trying to get people to take him seriously is one of his biggest problems. The best scenes are the ones in which he simply watches his wife; everything he's feeling, from the love to the frustration, comes pouring through. Heather Morgan is fascinating to watch as Lucy, his wife. Her physical acting is very good, very much in sync with how dogs often act. The supporting cast is great, too; nearly all of the characters have a purpose, rather than being scenery. Hank Azaria is wonderful as Peter's ne'er-do-well friend, Lisa Kudrow's cute as his neurotic, sexy vet, and Vincent D'Onofrio's coolly creepy as a psychiatric resident with a bit of an ethics problem and a desire to do something else. Together, all these characters form an odd collection, but it works. The key to this movie is to remember that--no matter what the critics say--it's not a comedy. It's a drama, though admittedly a quirky one, and a very good one at that.

Don't be mislead by the trailer. Sure, the film is chock full of really funny bits, but they serve to offer comic relief to a truly poignant story of a woman with a terrible mental disorder, her husband who is at the end of his tether, a statement on the treatment of mental disorders by "let's just make her a vegetable", a vet who doesn't really know where her heart is going and finds herself falling in love with the husband who comes to her for advice, a resident shrink who would rather be practicing his harp than medicine and gets himself fired for practicing psychiatry in a broom closet and on house-calls for cash, and a buddy who boasts of being fired from a job about every six weeks because he feels oppressed by "the man." Good character development. The plot has good resolution. A mix of angst, laughter, and warm fuzzies. Memorable line: The buddy tells the resident, "Stick with the harp. You can't get fired from playing the harp." Good film.

Peter's (Lee Tergeson) young wife Lucy (Heather Morgan) begins to act like a dog. 'Bark' is a naturalistic account, told with some flashbacks but mostly in chronological order, of how Peter comes to understand how Lucy has gradually slipped off the edge of sanity. What makes 'Bark' a comedy is Peter's success at creating a home and a family of friends for Lucy.

Although mentally ill people have been treated before with levity (think of Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man') I can recall no other film that has approached the subject with such tenderness. Scenes of Peter bathing Lucy and of their apartment manager yelling through the ceiling to get her to stop barking and go back to sleep are original and memorable. Lisa Kudrow is hysterical as a neurotic veterinarian named Darla Portnoy, and Vincent D'Onofrio is convincing as the sad-sack psychiatric resident Malcolm who would rather play the harp.