DOGGONE GOOD
L.A. lives brought together by their cute canines in romantic comedy
The dog days of summer have yielded the unapologetically lowkey “Dog Days,” a genial feel-good salute to canine power. “Dog Days,” directed by Ken Marino from a screenplay by Elissa Matsueda, offers a well-cast ensemble — Vanessa Hudgens, Nina Dobrev, Adam Pally, Eva Longoria — who navigate life in Los Angeles with and without dogs by their side.
Here, dogs are more than pets, they're lifelines — to communicating with others, opening your heart, finding comfort in sorrow.
And in a summer cinematic season with an unusually high decibel level, there's a lot to be said for a romantic comedy that never shrieks.
Dobrev (“The Vampire Diaries”) leads the troops as Elizabeth, a perky, wound-up morning-show TV star who is recovering from being dumped and takes her depressed dog to a therapist (Tig Notaro), which is hilarious.
Multiple story lines give “Dog Days” an easy rhythm that eventually intersects. Nothing seems overdone or terribly contrived, yet here is life, death, heartbreak, friendship and music.
As Elizabeth copes with a new co-host, ex-NFL star Jimmy Johnston (an engaging Tone Bell), romance arrives.
Hudgens' Tara works in a java joint, but her building regulations forbid dogs. That's true for her bearded musician neighbor Dax (Pally) as well, yet he's smuggled an adorable, large mutt into his apartment because his sister, a single mother who's just delivered twins, can't cope, much less tell her newborns apart.
Across from java central is the New Tricks Dog Rescue center with the drop-dead hunky Dr. Mike (Michael Cassidy) — it's L.A.! Unassuming Garret (Jon Bass, just terrific) is the center's owner, who silently and obviously pines for Tara.
Grace (Longoria) and her husband (Rob Corddry) are nervous new parents, having adopted young, shy Amelia (Elizabeth Caro), who bonds with the stray pug they find on the street.
The chubby pug is Mabel — missing from the lonely widower Walter's house. Walter's (Ron Cephas Jones) crabbiness is just a cover for a big heart waiting to help someone — that would be the pizza delivery kid (“Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard).
“Dog Days” manages to almost end with a dog rally in Griffith Park, complete with live band and a silly bit involving the mayor of L.A., her security team and “a homeless woman in PJs” who of course is Elizabeth, and who doesn't need a dog therapist to tell her she's found Mr. Right — and he has only two legs.