“Year of the Dog,” review by Susan Granger

One of life’s tragedies that we all face is surviving a pet. That’s the subject of this quirky, tender puppy-love comedy by writer Mike White, making his directorial debut.

While shy executive assistant Peggy (Molly Shannon) dutifully puts up with her heartless, spineless boss (Joseph Pais), her sex-obsessed co-worker (Regina King), her obsessive brother (Tom McCarthy) and his fashion-conscious, uptight wife (Laura Dern), she finds herself totally isolated when her precious beagle Pencil strays away and eats something toxic.

Grief-stricken and love-starved, she has dinner with a boorish macho neighbor (John C. Reilly), only to discover that he shot his own dog while they were hunting moose. Then one day she gets a call from Newt (Peter Sarsgaard), an androgynous, vegan animal-rights activist who works at the vet, and he inquires if she’s be interested in adopting a rescued dog before the city of Los Angeles puts him down. She is – and does – but that’s only the beginning. Before long, she’s inundated with abused, abandoned death-row pooches, only to discover, at long last, what truly makes her happy.

Mike White – who wrote and acted in “School of Rock,” “The Good Girl,” “Chuck and Buck” – hasn’t quite decided whether this is a character study of wild-eyed zealotry, a farce or a humorous sitcom, so the pacing is uneven. But Molly Shannon’s minimalist performance as a distraught woman pushed over the edge is wonderful. After six seasons on “Saturday Night Live,” she deftly taps into Peggy’s anguish, desperation and neediness – never giving a hint that, off-screen, she’s actually allergic to dogs. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Year of the Dog” is a semi-satirical, sentimental 7. For dog lovers, it could be a best-in-show.