Bruce McCulloch’s directorial debut is a well-meaning piece of romantic fluff, but where his segments in The Kids in the Hall were refreshingly absurd and contained an amusing dead-panned cynicism, Dog Park is, for the most part, surprisingly devoid of this kind of humour. Once again we are presented with a bunch of beautiful people with beautiful problems. Andy (Luke Wilson) is a hunky looking Classifieds writer who drifts from relationship to relationship without any sense of purpose or direction. Conversely, Lorna (Natasha Henstridge) looks more like a leggy supermodel than the host of a kids show. Her problem is that she can never seem to get a date. The two end up meeting at a bar for a rather humourous and embarrassing first encounter that leads to all sorts of other predictable sitcom misadventures. McCulloch’s film is entertaining enough but it lacks the scathing wit that one usually associates with his work. Dog Park gets close to this territory a couple of times but then veers away as if afraid it might offend. It seems too eager to please. Despite the excellent performances from a cast that also includes Janeane Garofalo and Mark McKinney, there is nothing that separates Dog Park from countless other romantic comedies.
