Wiener-Dog

Wiener-Dog follows the title character as he cycles through a quartet of stories involving morose characters, including an unhappy couple (Tracy Letts’ Danny and Julie Delpy’s Dina), an unhappy film professor (Danny DeVito’s Dave Schmerz), and an unhappy senior citizen (Ellen Burstyn’s Nana). It’s perhaps not surprising to note that filmmaker Todd Solondz takes an aggressively misanthropic approach to his characters, with the movie, which falls right in line with the writer/director’s cynical, pessimistic body of work, adopting a consistently (and thoroughly) despondent feel that’s reflected in most of its attributes. There is, as such, little doubt that Wiener-Dog can be awfully difficult to sit through at times, and yet it’s just as clear that the movie does boast a number of unexpectedly engrossing stretches – with the best and most cogent example of this the entirety of DeVito’s emotional subplot. (It’s likely not hyperbole to suggest that DeVito delivers the performance of his career here.) The film is likewise peppered with a handful of impressively captivating sequences (eg Kieran Culkin’s Brandon attempts to tell his mentally-handicapped sibling their father has died), while the movie’s final story, revolving around Burstyn’s thoroughly hateful figure, packs a far greater emotional punch than one could’ve ever anticipated. (This is especially true of the tale’s gut-punch of a conclusion.) Solondz ultimately can’t resist ending the picture with a serious middle-finger to the viewer, as Wiener-Dog ends on an eye-rollingly (and needlessly) graphic note that obliterates its previously-established positive vibes – which, in turn, ensures that the movie finally comes off as yet another misfire from a filmmaker who prizes shock value over authenticity and genuine emotion.

*1/2 out of ****