How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)
The story of 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. He finds himself bonding with a new neighbor's lonely young daughter who has mild cerebral palsy; and during one of his middle-of-the-night strolls, he encounters his oddball doppelgänger.
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I loved this movie. I'm amazed to see how poorly it did at the box office. I blame the title. It was funny, heartwarming, sweet and meaningful. As always Kenneth Branagh was terrific in a tricky like him/hate him role. Robin Wright was great as his wife, in a struggle with the husband she loves about whether or not to have a baby. And why hasn't Suzi Hofrichter (who played Amy, the young neighbor girl) become a big star? She stole the scenes with Branagh-not easy to do. Of course, Lynn Redgrave can do no wrong-a moving though subtle performance. Even the periodic music (loved hearing the old Petula Clark songs) was fun. I wish it could be redistributed with a new title and promoted properly. Until I happened upon it on a cable channel I had never heard of it. I highly recommend this movie to all except younger children (due to language and some medical scenes-not gory or anything, but personal).
I did not expect a lot from this movie, since it was in the budget section. Kenneth Branagh, a truly remarkable actor, was perfectly cast as the writer, playwright and not so wanting to be a father to be.Branagh had me laughing and crying.... Amy was a great character for a child, and a great little actress. As annoying as she could have been, she wasn't, but rather endearing in the life of her two neighbors. Krumholtz was annoying, the only one.This is a movie that I would recommend to fans of Branagh as a gem! He was great (and buffed) in Frankenstein, and more curmudgeonly in this one - as "Pete" told him. Nevertheless, he came across as the real deal and made me wonder why he doesn't have kids yet!! Why not Kenneth? You'd be a great father. Is he a mirror of his character?
I have now watched this movie about 5 times and each time I only like it more. I didn't know it had so many fans until I came on here. I thought I was the only one who knew about it and have to convince my friends (and strangers, too) to give it a look.Though I think all the actors are very good and the movie is beautifully shot, what I love most of all is just how smart and funny it is. And the more times you see (listen to) it, you realize how every little thing pays off. What can seem like a random string of events, isn't. And all of this is done with a story that is both real and not so real at all (it is his book, after all). It also takes a lot of jabs at political correctness, which is okay by me any time.See this movie!
I liked this movie - for a change we have here an intelligent comedy, smart dialogs, a conventional story that succeeds to almost never fall in the romantic routine. The story is set in Los Angeles. A British-American play-writer goes through a mid-life, mid-career, mid-relationship crisis. He is happily married, but the couple is childless, mostly probably because he is a champion of egocentrism and does not seem to like children very much. All this changes when a neighbor with an eight-year old daughter moves in. You have indeed seen the story in many other movies, but the masterful acting of Branagh with good support from the rest of the team, the sarcastic description of the content-empty life in the artistic circles in Los Angeles, and the witty relationship between the European roots of the character and his Americanized life make the film both interesting to watch, as well as true in message. 8 out of 10 on my personal scale.