Year of the Dog (2007)

On Memorial Day, I watched Year of the Dog (2007), and Netflix says:

Molly Shannon stars in this quirky, canine-themed comedy written and directed by actor Mike White (School of Rock), with supporting performances from Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King, John C. Reilly and Laura Dern. The film centers on an upbeat secretary (Shannon) whose life takes a temporary nosedive when her beloved dog, Pencil, suddenly dies. But in an unexpected trick, her pet's tragedy opens her up to transformation.

This was a comedy? Seriously? Quirky? Are you sure? Da Man questioned why I wanted to see a movie about someone's dog dying, but I thought that would be the only sad bit, and then comedy would ensue. But not so much. And this transformation that happens to her? I get that she was transformed into an animal rights activist. But is that because of Pencil's death? Or because she had a crush on the animal activist? This movie just ended up being way sadder than I expected. I gave it two stars that day, but I think I would give it one (or less) now.

27 Dresses (2008)

This afternoon, I decided to see 27 Dresses. Netflix says:

Tired of being a perpetual bridesmaid after helping 27 friends tie the knot, altruistic Jane (Katherine Heigl) finds herself facing her worst nightmare as her younger sister (Malin Akerman) announces her engagement to the man Jane secretly adores. But when Jane meets the charming Kevin (James Marsden), will she beat her sibling to the altar? Edward Burns and Judy Greer also star in this breezy romantic comedy from director Anne Fletcher.

I really liked this one. I used to be a sucker for romantic comedies, but then I lost interest in them. I'm a Katherine Heigl fan, and the commercials for this looked a little different. I mean, it was a Hollywood studio production, but it had some twists. As I sat down to watch it, I realized that I didn't know anything about the plot. It is very tricky to create a trailer for a film that reveals nothing of the plot but still gives a sense of the movie. Sure, it had an expected ending, but I had no idea what path we were going to take to get there even as I was watching the movie. And Heigl and Marsden are great actors, though Judy Greer stole the show as Heigl's best friend. I gave it five out of five because it still fit the genre even as it took some different paths to get there.

The Dying Gaul (2005)

I didn't write about it, but a month or so ago (March 29, I think), we saw The Dying Gaul, about which Netflix says:

When Jeffrey (Campbell Scott), a slick Hollywood studio exec, offers gay screenwriter Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) $1 million to transform a screenplay's homosexual protagonists into heterosexuals, Robert takes the bait -- and ends up sleeping in Jeffrey's bed. But complications ensue when Jeffrey's wife, Elaine (Patricia Clarkson), begins unraveling her husband's secrets, with nail-biting consequences. Craig Lucas directs in his feature-film debut.

I love Peter Sarsgaard. He's one of the people I'll just watch in anything. This movie was good, but it felt like the pace was off at times. I mean, Jeffrey and Robert start this affair, but it seems like they are in the middle of the affair before we really know that it's begun. For a moment there, I was even wondering if there was some dream sequence or something going on. So I felt off-kilter at times. And the ending felt like a lot to happen all at once with so many people dying and the audience not being sure about what exactly happened. It was fine but not amazing. Two out of five starts.

Since then, we haven't seen a thing on Netflix. The end of the semester just got to both of us. But we'll be making up for that this summer!