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Since her divorce, Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane) has become a virtual recluse, burying her nose in
her job as a pre-school teacher.
Concerned for her happiness, her family, with all their good intentions, runs a personal ad in an internet dating site on her behalf. After entertaining a handful of undesirable candidates, Sarah meets Jake Anderson (John Cussack), who's also trying to move on from a recent divorce. Jake is charmed by Sarah, and Sarah gets fascinated by Jake's old-worldly passion for building boats, and after a couple of meetings, things click and it seems like they are "it." But complications arise when Sarah cannot resist the advances of Bob (Dermot Mulroney), the handsome father of one of her pupils, and whose wife is also divorcing him for being an incorrigible womanizer.
The one perfect point in Must Love Dogs
is the casting and characterization. Lane's Sarah seems almost true-to-life, devoid of self-consciousness. Cussack projects an aura of stability despite his romantic nature. Mulroney comes on as the supremely confident charmer. Christopher Plummer as Sarah's widower-father and Stockard Channing as his fiancee portray characters so convincing they could be your neighbors. Even the grocery man at the meat counter and the preschoolers deliver their lines flawlessly. The pacing of the story is good, although some parts of the dialogue could have been better.
Internet courtship has become a reality in Philippine culture, albeit occurring mostly in key cities.
In Must Love Dogs, internet courtship which leads to dating includes sex even at first meeting.
Careful when you let your teens view this movie, lest they blindly imitate what they think is "cool" in this day and age. The comic situations tend to distract from the serious issues in the movie, which only proves that with its freewheeling attitude towards coupling, premarital and extramarital sex is taken for granted, "Standard Operational Procedure," nothing to fuss about. This is contrary to Church teaching which upholds chastity as a most desirable virtue in both man and woman.
Must Love Dogs
earns points, though, in emphasizing the values of lasting marriage, family support, true love, and communication which makes for lasting, honest relationships. Enjoyable comedy for adults; must be viewed with caution by impressionable teens.
(Date Reviewed: 19 August 2005)
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