Mike White’s bitingly funny little film (that’s to be expected), Year of the Dog, premiered at this year’s Sundance Festival. It’s hard to believe this is the first film that White has directed, since we’re so used to his touch by now. But that’s been as a writer (Nacho Libre, The School of Rock, Chuck and Buck).  

In Year of the Dog, Molly Shannon (SNL alum, Gray Matters, Talladega Nights) is Peggy, a dog lover extraordinaire, who dotes on her adorable Beagle, Pencil. Peggy leads an ordered, uneventful life, going to a nondescript job, caring for Pencil, and occasionally visiting her neurotic sister Brett (Laura Dern of Inland Empire) and her family.  

Peggy’s one friend at work is Layla (Regina King of TVs “24,” and Ray), who dresses with as much bling as Peggy does blah. All is quiet on the home front until Peggy gets a new neighbor, Al (Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly), who has a big truck and a personality to match. Then Peggy’s dog Pencil dies, under mysterious circumstances. She is stricken with grief and determined to find out what happened.  

 Animal rights activist and dog rescuer Newt (Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead, Kinsey) brings Peggy out of despair when he offers her a new dog to lavish her love on. True, the German Shepherd is about six times the size of the departed Pencil, and he has a behavioral problem. But soon Peggy is interested in saving all sorts of animals, and she’s interested in Newt, who is not interested in an intimate relationship with a woman. This reinforces Peggy’s philosophy that people will always disappoint you, but that you can count on pets. 

This peek into the slightly off-center life of a woman searching for what her contribution to others might be, is not for everyone. Dog lovers, however, and advocates for animals, will love this piece.