Main Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Jared Harris, Lynn Redgrave, Peter Riegert
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Somewhere in L.A., Peter (Kenneth Branagh), a washed-up British playwright, struggles to duplicate his past glory as he surfs a foul-smelling tide of disenchantment. His wife, Melanie (Robin Wright Penn), manages to maintain an optimistic outlook even as she longs for the baby that her husband is hesitant to help her conceive. When Peter befriends Amy (Suzi Hofrichter), a neighborhood girl who has mild cerebral palsy, their friendship softens him to the idea of fatherhood and propels Melanie's maternal yearnings into hyperdrive. As if baby fever weren't enough, Peter is plagued by a seemingly benevolent stalker (Jared Harris), his neighbors' incessantly noisy dog, and the flighty cast and crew of his latest play. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Review
Never mind the unfortunately cutesy title. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog is a smartly written slice of the life of a jaded Los Angeles playwright, a former "angry young man" named Peter McGowen, brought into sardonic existence by Kenneth Branagh. In a journey that at times recalls Wonder Boys, Michael Kalesniko has constructed a little-known but delightfully funny addition to the films about the mid-life ennui of the artist. He's found a perfect muse in Branagh, who relishes the change of pace from his Shakespearean fare, letting loose with zippy line-deliveries and a persona that seems influenced by his work with (and impersonation of) Woody Allen in Celebrity. Kalesniko's sharp script also attracted the famously picky Robin Wright Penn, who makes a good sparring partner as Peter's wife, Melanie, indulging Peter's world view, but only until it becomes out-and-out kvetching. McGowen's environs get fleshed out with a panoply of interesting supporting characters, who alternately drive him crazy or move him on a path toward personal growth. On the one hand, there's the stalker who's posing as McGowen (the inspired Jared Harris), who ends up becoming the real McGowen's confidant during his bouts with insomnia. Then there's the handicapped neighborhood girl (Suzi Hofrichter), who cracks his shell and turns the former isolationist into a staunch defender of her dignity. The funniest moments may be the interspersed scenes of talk show host Peri Gilpin going tête-à-tête with McGowen, neither able to disguise their mutual disdain. Kalesniko directs it all with a keen eye for the absurd vicissitudes of intellectual life, making How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog an overlooked gem worth finding on DVD, since it was given only a perfunctory theatrical release. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Doug Byggdin - Art Director, Rainer Bienger - Associate Producer, John Brace - Casting, Linda Lowy - Casting, Tani Cohen - Co-producer, Mary Claire Hannan - Costume Designer, Kevin J. Moore - First Assistant Director, Michael Kalesniko - Director, Pamela Martin - Editor, Avi Lerner - Executive Producer, John Thompson - Executive Producer, Danny Dimbort - Executive Producer, Trevor Short - Executive Producer, Willi Baer - Executive Producer, David Robbins - Composer (Music Score), Stephen Lineweaver - Production Designer, Hubert Taczanowski - Cinematographer, Brad Weston - Producer, Michael Nozik - Producer, Nancy M. Ruff - Producer, Mary Lou Storey - Set Designer, Larry Sutton - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Kalesniko - Screenwriter
The film stars Kenneth Branagh as Peter McGowan, a chain-smoking, impotent, insomniac playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Once very successful, he is now in the tenth year of a decade-long string of production failures. His latest play is in the hands of effeminate director Brian Sellars (David Krumholtz), who is obsessed with Petula Clark; his wife Melanie (Robin Wright Penn) is determined to have a baby; he finds himself bonding with a new neighbor's lonely young daughter (Suzi Hofrichter) who has mild cerebral palsy; and during one of his middle-of-the-night strolls, he encounters his oddball doppelgänger (Jared Harris) who claims to be Peter McGowan and develops a friendship of sorts with him.
In his review in the New York Times, Stephen Holden described the film as "a Hollywood rarity, a movie about an icy grown-up heart-warmed by a child that doesn't wield emotional pliers to try to squeeze out tears . . . It is a tribute to Mr. Branagh's considerable comic skills that he succeeds in making a potentially insufferable character likable by infusing him with the same sly charm that Michael Caine musters to seduce us into cozying up to his sleazier alter egos . . . Mr. Kalesniko's satirically barbed screenplay, whose spirit harks back to the comic heyday of Blake Edwards, stirs up an insistent verbal energy that rarely flags."
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated the movie B and said, "Branagh, in his most forceful non-Shakespeare screen performance, grounds even the softest moments in the angry revolt of his wit." Justine Elias of The Village Voice stated it was "slight but unendurable . . . its fractured time frame gets confusing."
The film was the prestigious closing night film at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and won multiple festival awards. It was released as Mad Dogs and Englishmen in Australia.
