Must Love Dogs (98 minutes)
My alternative title would be: WOOF, WOOF

SUPER MOVIE FAN'S RECOMMENDATION: 2, WAIT and RENT

Who is in it?:
DIANE LANE, JOHN CUSACK, ELIZABETH PERKINS, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, DERMOT MULRONEY

What is it about?
DIANE LANE is Sarah, a kindergarten teacher who is recovering from a failed marriage and underestimates her talents and beauty. JOHN CUSACK is Jake; a caring man who builds racing boats by hand, heartbroken that his marriage didn't work out either. Both are pushed back into the "meat market" by family and friends with some predictable missteps. Sarah's sister (ELIZABETH PERKINS) places a dating ad for her sister—without telling her. As you might have guessed, Sarah and Jake just might be perfect for one another. Will the movie last long enough for them to realize it? DERMOT MULRONEY plays the parent of one of Sarah's students—and who pushes to get to know her a bit more personally.

When and Where does this movie take place?
In a generic city by a river.

Why see it? Must Love Dogs is the only time I may ever have used the term "chick flick," Wayne. It is cute, sensitive, predicable and likeable. It is what we saw in You've Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle, good people trying to get passed their past, stumbling in stereotypes with well-meaning but quirky friends to chime in on queue. Women will like it; men will be a little bit less interested.

How about the kids?
PG-13 for sexual situations.

Video Pick of the Week
Downfall. This is a powerful and graphic movie about the last days of Hitler as the Allies converge on his bunker. Amazing story, Wayne of how Nazi Germany fell apart. German with subtitles. Very adult.

Next week, we'll review, Broken Flowers with Bill Murray. I am hoping it opens here. Resolute to his lonely misery, he learns that he may have fathered a boy who is now 19. He reluctantly sets off to talk with the four women who could be the mom, and we learn about his past and possible future.

John Fischetti can be heard Friday's on the Wayne Perkey show on Oldies 103, WRKA and can be reached at fischettij@uncw.edu



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