DEAD DOG
Fan Review by Laura Ploeger, February 1, 2010
Spoilers possible
First impressions die hard, don't they. As Mari said, the trailer lead me to believe this was a serious thriller. I was glad to learn it wasn't, and it seems that is the general consensus with this film. Very underrated and curiously enjoyable, it is so much more than meets the eye. I was especially intrigued by the Tom character. How could an animal lover like him encourage the practices of a guy who sells fur for a living? And then it hit me: Tom is a whore. No he doesn't stand out on a corner and get into the car with a john, but he is a whore for his radio station. The question is, does he realize what he is and that's why he wants to have a simpler life back in Georgia where he was raised? He definitely notices how much of a whore for the legal profession his wife is, along with her sleazo partner. In some ways Tom is a hypocrite, acting all holier than thou, like he is a good god fearing person and all that, but once someone messes with his beloved pet, it's like the real guy comes out. I don't think he really wanted to help the fur guy anymore than he wanted to let the guy who hit Sophie get away with it. At the end, I really had to wonder why Tom got back with his wife, after all that happened and all that he learned about himself, but then, maybe the wife changed her whole outlook on life, because it looks at the end, like they moved to Georgia...after she said she'd never go there. Maybe they both decided that they wanted a slower, easier and more honest lifestyle instead of the fast paced, wealth seeking, soul sucking life of the big city.
The movie is filled with top notch actors like Jeremy Sisto, David Thornton, Adrienne Shelly and Jay O. Sanders. I was also quite impressed with Paige Turco as Perri and Christopher Cousins as the scumbag. The characters are fun and memorable, and the story, while not a big action blockbuster about saving the world from aliens, is quite engaging.
