A Dog Year

Jeff bridges : is truly a legend.

its a sweet movie about a writer and his dog. enjoyed the movie thoroughly. The movie was simple and straight. Heart warming and happy ending.

Must watch for every dog owner. Or any animal owner or animal lover for that matter.

This movie is quite informative for inexperienced dog owners. Gives you a gist of how to care for an animal that has been through some trauma or is getting used to a new home.

a must watch for every animal lover !

A dog movie that's not overly manipulative? That's one in a million. In all seriousness, 'A Dog Year' doesn't contain those certain scenes that most dog films too, or at least they don't play it off like something like Marley & Me. But it also doesn't necessarily have the heart that something like A Hachi's Tale or Megan Leavey do. So while it doesn't reinvent the genre in any way, it's a quick 80 minutes that gives you an enjoyable Jeff Bridges performances and plenty of good pup pup moments. I'll take it.

7.1/10

Not your typical dog movie - here the dog actually acts like a real dog. No talking animals, no over-the-top staged smarts or heroics. It plays more like an episode of the Dog Whisperer - BEFORE they call in Cesar. Bridges plays a semi-creepy sad sack of a blocked writer who, through somewhat unclear circumstances, unwittingly and unwillingly adopts the border collie from hell. Having adopted a somewhat crazed border collie myself, I can say the dogs behavior and interactions with Bridges are spot on, and there is no need for the typical Hollywood (c.f. Beethoven) hyperbole - the dog is not quite the lovable scamp, and the Bridges' Katz is not a wholly sympathetic character. With a little unwelcome help from his friends, peace is eventually made between the writer and his dog. That's the good - the bad is this movie seems to be the anti-Marley - we only get a bare smattering of how the "adoption" came to pass, what the hell is going on between Katz and his family, and what happened to the other yellow lab? One gets the sense of script problems and/or a heavy hand in the editing room, which is too bad because while these details are not important, the missing pieces are distracting, and flaw this otherwise refreshingly realistic, yet still eminently watchable dog flick.

Having no prior knowledge that this movie was based on a year of the writer's own life - I thought it was going to turn out to be some wretched gangster movie with a dog thrown in. Thankfully it wasn't. But, it wasn't much of anything else either. At odd times it looked like it was going to lead somewhere...then, would take a dive. There were one or two nice dog/owner moments - the promise of a training session to add another dimension but, that goes nowhere either. Then it fades out - 'The End' what?

All looks like someone trying to prove they could make a tele-movie but forgot about the importance of a script with a complete story. Pity, it's the tail wagging the dog I'm afraid. Some reviewers hinted that only country folk would understand this tale, well maybe only those who have been in the country alone, for too long, and no longer understand the purpose of a story to go with their visuals. Only for the very easily pleased. Still, suppose it could have been worse, although not sure how much.

This was okay, not great but interesting especially as a dog lover and watchable because of Jeff Bridges. He plays a writer who impulsively adopts an energetic border collie that turns his already frantic midlife crisis even crazier. Why is he having a midlife crisis, we never get to know. He is separated from his wife, why? The movie never tells. Jeff takes his new dog and rents a dilapidated farmhouse, where he begins to repair himself and the dog with random interactions with the townsfolk.

The biggest problem this movie has is the absence of a backstory or any kind of satisfying resolution, yup this movie just ends. you never find out why the writer is depressed and angry like he is, or why he's separated from his wife (interestingly voiced by his Starman wife Karen Allen) We never get to know the back story of the dog or if anyone in this is stable at the end. Very frustrating. I will say that the dog actually acts like a real dog, a bored dog who's had zero training. Bridges is also useless with the training.