Darling Companion (2012)

22% of critics liked it
(69 reviews)
44% of users liked it
(8,060 ratings)

Beth (Diane Keaton) saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway on a wintry day in Denver. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph (Kevin Kline) and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after their… More Beth (Diane Keaton) saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway on a wintry day in Denver. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph (Kevin Kline) and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after their daughter's (Elisabeth Moss) wedding at their vacation home in the Rockies, Beth, distraught and angry with Joseph, enlists the help of the few remaining guests (Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, Mark Duplass) and a mysterious woman (Ayelet Zurer) in a frantic search. -- (C) Sony Classics

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 43 min.
Directed By: Lawrence Kasdan
Written By: Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 20, 2012 Limited
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Tom Long, Detroit News
Between the gypsy psychic and the distracting characters, "Darling Companion" loses its way.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
It's far from a great movie - an overwritten, underplotted vanity project that's a distant echo of what director Lawrence Kasdan could do in his prime. But it has Diane Keaton, and that's enough.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
It's fun to watch Keaton and Kline together, bickering and (of course) bonding all over again.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
If good intentions were everything, this benevolent film would be Best in Show. Alas, it's flawed by a drowsy pace (there is far too much hiking) and superfluous, ill-conceived characters.
Rafer Guzman, Newsday
The dog had the right idea.
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Initially this struck me as something you'd take your grandmother to see, but by the end it seemed more like something your grandmother would take her grandmother to see.
Dan Lybarger, KC Active
Today, however, it's hard to watch a film about people who live in a bubble with problems that might earn them a spot on WhiteWhine.com.
Robert Denerstein, Movie Habit
Sometimes bad movies happen to good people
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...a passably pleasant endeavor from Kasdan that is, admittedly, a far cry from his earlier work...
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
A listless excursion into the luxurious problems of rich, white people.
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
[It] has a fine cast, but doesn't seem to have much to say other than lamenting the unfairness of getting old.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
... meanders along from scene to scene in an amiable stroll ...
Marc Mohan, Oregonian
Perhaps the neurotic, self-entitled cluelessness on display, especially from Keaton's character, was meant to be amusing or gently satirical, but it's really just grating.
Jake Mulligan, Boston Phoenix
As pedestrian as a stroll through the dog park, Lawrence Kasdan's latest (and worst) film is both insulting and inconsequential.
Jackie Loohauis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The plot itself is thin kibble indeed, and the scriptwriting team of Lawrence and Meg Kasdan must bring in a gypsy psychic (Ayelet Zurer) as a plot device to give the film some spice.
Justin Strout, Orlando Weekly
Oh, man. Man, oh, man.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
Although the end result can be a mixed bag of tonalities, it's reassuring to feel the Kasdan vibe after 10 years of silence. I hope it's not another decade before he decides to direct again.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
The movie has a relaxed pace, which is appropriate as characters learn that their everyday worries aren't as important as human connections.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Don't expect to be blown away, but it's a pleasant comedy-drama.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
A shaggy-dog tale that, despite a talented cast, is a cinematic mutt.

Read all 21 critic reviews

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William D

"Darling Companion" is shockingly bad. Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan ("Body Heat," "The Big Chill") seems to have made this in order to secure a TV project. It looks like he was trying to prove to certain corporate executives that he can do TV. That is… More
"Darling Companion" is shockingly bad. Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan ("Body Heat," "The Big Chill") seems to have made this in order to secure a TV project. It looks like he was trying to prove to certain corporate executives that he can do TV. That is depressing enough, that a film would serve as a try-out for television. But "DC" doesn't even work as a TV pilot. I'm sorry to say this, but I wouldn't trust Kasdan with either TV or film right now. His instincts as a director seem to be shot. It pains me to say that about any creative person. But it stings especially with Kasdan because his "Body Heat" and "Accidental Tourist" are two of my all-time fave films. I can still remember seeing those films for the first time -- where I was, whom I was with. They made such an impression on me. But we all know that artists sometimes lose their creativity over time. Alas. In "DC," Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline play an upper-middle-class couple going through a sort of empty-next syndrome now that their children are grown up and have moved away. The wife, a well-meaning airhead, rescues a stray dog on the freeway one day (in one of many preposterously fake sequences) and decides to keep the animal. A year or so later, the dog runs off in the woods and cannot be found. For the next 90 minutes, we watch this couple, joined by a few other family members, search their ritzy, hippie-dippie Colorado ski resort for the dog. The film nauseatingly tries to mimic a Nancy Meyers' movie ("Something's Gotta Give," "It's Complicated"). In between terribly empty and repetitious scenes, schmaltzy music swells loudly. I've almost never seen a film try so hard to be cute and fail so miserably. There is a good chance "Darling Companion" will top my Worst of 2012 list.

Cast

            Kevin Kline as Joseph

            Diane Keaton as Beth

            Richard Jenkins as Russell

            Zack Phifer as Comforting Husband

            Dianne Wiest as Penny

            Sam Shepard as Sheriff Morris

            Elisabeth Moss as Grace

            Mark Duplass as Bryan

            Ayelet Zurer as Carmen

            Lindsay Sloane as Ellie

            Jay Ali as Sam

            Charles Halford as Christus

            Robert Bear as Possum

            Kasey as Freeway

            Paul Kiernan as Patient

            Jericho Watson as Ethan

            Yolanda Wood as Cop

            D.L. Walker as Burly Cop

            Dina Goldman as Caterer

            Ruben Barboza as Waiter

            Aline Andrade as Waiter #2

            Jonathan Kasdan as Officiant

            Mark Robinette as Bandleader

            Craig Miner as Band Member

            Ryan Shupe as Band Member

            Anne Cullimore Decker as Muriel

            Anthony Bregman as Jeff

            Tod Huntington as Deputy Chas

            Jason Jensen as Ponytailed Runner

            Steve Christina as Redhead

            Lorry Houston as Co-Pilot

            Jon Jon Florence as Pilot

            Jan Broberg Felt as Hyterical Wife
See full cast