Beethoven

Directed by Brian Levant, Beethoven details the chaos that ensues after the Newton family (Charles Grodin’s George, Bonnie Hunt’s Alice, Nicholle Tom’s Ryce, Christopher Castile’s Ted, and Sarah Rose Karr’s Emily) agrees to adopt an oversized Saint Bernard. Filmmaker Levant, working from Edmond Dantès and Amy Holden Jones’ screenplay, delivers a mostly easygoing comedy that fares best in its fast-paced and entertaining first half, as Beethoven boasts a lighthearted atmosphere that’s heightened by its smattering of laugh-out-loud funny segments and assortment of above-average performances – with, in terms of the latter, the picture benefiting substantially from Grodin’s typically stellar turn as the perpetually aggravated central character. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that Levant elicits strong supporting work from such periphery players as Stanley Tucci, Oliver Platt, and David Duchovny.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that the film eventually segues into a curiously (and jarringly) dark final third that is, for the most part, entirely unpleasant, and although it recovers for an appreciatively feel-good finale, Beethoven has, by that point, cemented its place as a thoroughly erratic endeavor that would’ve been better off without its thriller-specific elements.

**1/2 out of ****