Must Love Dogs
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
The many illustrations and philosophies of love collide in the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs, as recent divorcees Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane) and Jake Anderson (John Cusack) find themselves pushed into dating by their friends and family. The ‘game plans’ of each character’s supporting cast contradicts the natures of Sarah and Jake, but the obvious tension provides plenty of laughs for both men and women. Exploring the ups and downs of the reentry into the dating scene allows for a closer look at relationships, dating and love.
Sarah’s family, father Bill (Christopher Plummer) and sisters Carol and Christine (Elisabeth Perkins and Ali Hills) provide her support team, or rather her not-asked-for advisory squad, and try to convince her that the husband who left her wasn’t good enough. Jake has only his friend Charlie (Ben Shankman), who says that he is “free� following his divorce, but Jake gladly allowed his ex-wife to have everything in their divorce—he still loved her. We hear in Jake’s words a male belief that women already have their love epic written, and that he just didn’t fit into his ex-wife’s story. He longs to find a woman worth chasing over continents (as he watches his favorite film, Doctor Zhivago, over and over again), in a relationship that contains more than sex and lasts.
As the two main characters adopt the internet as their main form of ‘advertising,’ Sarah’s attention becomes diverted by the father of one of her preschool students, Bobby (Dermot Mulroney). Carol repeatedly pushes Sarah to date frequently, but Sarah believes that she made a decision to be married to her first husband and she messed it up, so maybe she doesn’t get any other chances. Unfortunately, I heard in her words about love and relationship the same thing that many people believe about their relationship with God—that it’s too messed up to be made right, that their mistakes can’t be wiped away, that God is too angry with them to love them. Jake tells her that the hurt people experience allows our hearts to grow, having experienced the pain, we reach even farther the next time. Unfortunately, in any relationships, it varies from person to person: some reach farther on the way back, others shrink further into themselves.
The pain extends to the other family members—Bill who looks merely for temporary companionship that will never replace his dead one true love, Carol who tells Sarah that even married couples can’t find the love they want, and Sarah’s brother finds himself kicked out of the house from time to time. Dolly (Stockard Channing) is one of the temporary loves of Bill, and she teaches Sarah some skills in bouncing back. She tells her that the internet is part fantasy, part community, and you can pay your bills naked. The ‘false’ dates that both Sarah and Jake go on prove that the internet can’t provide all you need to know, but it does provide the beginnings of community, something that websites like this one provide. There is safety for Sarah in the internet access, because her attempts with Bobby are…lacking.
At least with Jake, Sarah finds “rhythm, balance, and timing.� Betraying Jake in a moment of impulse, she betrays herself—and that is the greatest hurt of the whole movie. As Dolly tells her, when you love someone, you forgive them the greatest mistake. And once again, the movie exhibits truth-filled self expression as Sarah ‘dives in’ like Peter searching out the resurrected Jesus. Here we have the ultimate repentance, baptism and grace provided on Jake’s wooden ‘cross.’ It’s whole-ness, and his willingness to forgive her and begin again, that provide a meaningful example for all our relationships. Love does forgive the greatest faults: we have the example of Jesus to follow, and Must Love Dogs displays the example with humor, tenderness and hope.
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
—Photos
—About this Film
The many illustrations and philosophies of love collide in the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs, as recent divorcees Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane) and Jake Anderson (John Cusack) find themselves pushed into dating by their friends and family. The ‘game plans’ of each character’s supporting cast contradicts the natures of Sarah and Jake, but the obvious tension provides plenty of laughs for both men and women. Exploring the ups and downs of the reentry into the dating scene allows for a closer look at relationships, dating and love.Sarah’s family, father Bill (Christopher Plummer) and sisters Carol and Christine (Elisabeth Perkins and Ali Hills) provide her support team, or rather her not-asked-for advisory squad, and try to convince her that the husband who left her wasn’t good enough. Jake has only his friend Charlie (Ben Shankman), who says that he is “free� following his divorce, but Jake gladly allowed his ex-wife to have everything in their divorce—he still loved her. We hear in Jake’s words a male belief that women already have their love epic written, and that he just didn’t fit into his ex-wife’s story. He longs to find a woman worth chasing over continents (as he watches his favorite film, Doctor Zhivago, over and over again), in a relationship that contains more than sex and lasts.
As the two main characters adopt the internet as their main form of ‘advertising,’ Sarah’s attention becomes diverted by the father of one of her preschool students, Bobby (Dermot Mulroney). Carol repeatedly pushes Sarah to date frequently, but Sarah believes that she made a decision to be married to her first husband and she messed it up, so maybe she doesn’t get any other chances. Unfortunately, I heard in her words about love and relationship the same thing that many people believe about their relationship with God—that it’s too messed up to be made right, that their mistakes can’t be wiped away, that God is too angry with them to love them. Jake tells her that the hurt people experience allows our hearts to grow, having experienced the pain, we reach even farther the next time. Unfortunately, in any relationships, it varies from person to person: some reach farther on the way back, others shrink further into themselves. The pain extends to the other family members—Bill who looks merely for temporary companionship that will never replace his dead one true love, Carol who tells Sarah that even married couples can’t find the love they want, and Sarah’s brother finds himself kicked out of the house from time to time. Dolly (Stockard Channing) is one of the temporary loves of Bill, and she teaches Sarah some skills in bouncing back. She tells her that the internet is part fantasy, part community, and you can pay your bills naked. The ‘false’ dates that both Sarah and Jake go on prove that the internet can’t provide all you need to know, but it does provide the beginnings of community, something that websites like this one provide. There is safety for Sarah in the internet access, because her attempts with Bobby are…lacking.At least with Jake, Sarah finds “rhythm, balance, and timing.� Betraying Jake in a moment of impulse, she betrays herself—and that is the greatest hurt of the whole movie. As Dolly tells her, when you love someone, you forgive them the greatest mistake. And once again, the movie exhibits truth-filled self expression as Sarah ‘dives in’ like Peter searching out the resurrected Jesus. Here we have the ultimate repentance, baptism and grace provided on Jake’s wooden ‘cross.’ It’s whole-ness, and his willingness to forgive her and begin again, that provide a meaningful example for all our relationships. Love does forgive the greatest faults: we have the example of Jesus to follow, and Must Love Dogs displays the example with humor, tenderness and hope.
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film
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