Bark!

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.

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.

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.

This is a very smart and nicely played dramatic comedy that really deals effectively with mental illness. I saw it at the Method Fest in Pasadena (www.methodfest.com) and the Producer talked afterwards which was interesting. Very intelligent, believable and fun writing from the Barker/Writer that conveyed the sensitivity of the author.

Vincent D'Onofrio was especially interesting and compelling in a hilarious harp playing intern role and of course Lisa Kudrow was a blast. I thought Heather Morgan was very sweet. Overall great cast.

Watch for the scene where they are all in the living room together as well as when Lucy's family shows up, amazing!

there is this awesome movie that is circling 'Starz and Encore' right now called Bark! about this lady who has a mental breakdown and believes that she is a dog. Has a great supporting cast including D'noffrio, Hank Azaria, Lisa Kudrow, as well as leading man Lee Tergesen {better known for his role as 'beacher' on 'OZ'} It has received shitty ratings, and well it is a very low budget piece of crap, but I loved it. It was a fun idea to play with, the chick who played the nut was believable. None of the characters were cardboard 2 dimensional things just there to waste time. All these odd ball people come together, for seemingly no reason, and the weirdest reasons of all, and it some how fits. Life is like that, but this had great emotional depth by Tergesen, and I'd never seen Kudrow in a sexier role. I have nothing but good things to say about all the actors in the flick, that's my 2 cents. GO SEE IT AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND IF YOU LIKE IT! DON'T LISTEN TO ME!