Sleeping Dogs Lie

Starring: Bryce Johnson, Melinda Page Hamilton, Colby French Directed by: Bob Goldthwait Rated: R Release date: October 20, 2006 - More Info
READER RATINGS:
6.1 OVERALL	Smart . . . . . . . . 7.3 Sexy . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Funny . . . . . . . . 6.7

The Nerve Review

Bobcat Goldthwait's Sleeping Dogs Lie is nowhere near as bad or as good as people will have you believe. True, a film that starts off as boldly as Goldthwait's does demands a bold response: Where exactly do you go after kicking off the proceedings with your female protagonist fellating her dog? (Yes, I'm giving it away: It's not really possible to discuss one's response to the film without doing so.)
Though it may sound like a comedy, Sleeping Dogs Lie doesn't really aim for laughs. Amy's (Melinda Page Hamilton) aforementioned teenage transgression — a product of boredom and curiosity more than anything else — begins to haunt her again when her boyfriend John (Bryce Johnson) asks her to share the grossest thing she's ever done with him. When she does, he can't handle it. Posing the question: what are the boundaries of trust that delineate a loving relationship? At this point, Dogs reveals its true colors: This is a serious movie about serious things, using its lighthearted setup to explore extremes of emotion, closer in spirit to a French comedy of manners than the gross-out flick its plot description might lead you to expect. Think Eric Rohmer with dog-blowing.
But Goldthwait only gets halfway there. He can't pull off the delicate tonal balance his inspired conceptual gambit requires. He can't really pull off much else, either: Aside from Hamilton's touchingly conflicted lead performance, the cast is hopelessly stiff, and the dialogue written in unseemly broad strokes. The SNL-level filmmaking doesn't help much either. Indeed, another reason why audiences might get stuck thinking of Sleeping Dogs Lie as a zany comedy is because it's quite simply not confident or subtle enough to work as anything else. — Bilge Ebiri

Other Reviews

Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
"Goldthwait makes this thing work, when you're sure it couldn't. . . .he handles it beautifully, crafting from such rough stuff something astoundingly sweet and sharply funny about forgiveness, unconditional love, tenderness, and the things we hide just to get ourselves from one day to the next."
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The Hollywood Reporter
Duane Byrge
"[A] carnal, crazy and, most amazingly, heartwarming love story."
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Variety
Todd McCarthy
"Far exceeds the limits of how far a one-joke comedy can be extended."
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Slant Magazine
Nick Schager
"The film never quite finds a suitable balance between its somewhat conflicting inclinations, proving too dramatically insubstantial to compellingly resonate, and too restrained to be out-and-out hilarious."
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Premiere Magazine
Sara Brady
"For a film with such a ridiculously perverse premise, Bobcat Goldthwait's second feature, Sleeping Dogs Lie, is surprisingly sweet, hilarious, and warm."
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Your Reviews

Yeah, I think Bilge fucked the dog on this one, if you will. I actually thought all the performances were great, and the comedy and pathos both gently skirted the edge of over-the-top (a significant accomplishment given the subject matter). A surprisingly moving film.

posted by turbomcphazer on 10/23/2006 1:46:06 PM

I really liked this movie. Usually I don't like romantic comedies, but this was totally cute. A good date movie, if you can believe it. I laughed out loud a couple times and almost cried at one point.