Critic Reviews
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Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Plays into an almost primal fear that there's something so awful in your past that if you spill the beans the other person will split -- no matter how much he or she professes that nothing you could say would ever have that effect.
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Peter Howell, Toronto Star
It's not like Amy was a serial canine abuser, for crying out loud. Had she been, the movie would be much more disgusting but also a lot more interesting and potentially more funny.
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Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Improbably, the movie manages to regroup after its outrageous opening and turn into an unpredictable, almost sweet, romantic comedy about the limits of candour.
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Derek Adams, Time Out
A warm, mature, thought-provoking film that is, at times, surreal, often hilarious and ultimately very touching. Nice one, Bobcat.
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Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Sleeping Dogs Lie is worse than offensive, it's boring, and these busy days that's really unforgivable.
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Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Sleeping Dogs Lie does collar big laughs for anyone who isn't skeeved out by the whole idea.
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Ali Gray, TheShiznit.co.uk
Don't be put off by its offbeat credentials, because this is a warm-hearted and hilarious dissection of relationships, and how honesty isn't necessarily always the best policy.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Leaves us with the less than satisfying disturbing message it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.
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Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
Anchored, and essentially redeemed, by a fearless performance from Melinda Page Hamilton.
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David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...ultimately an emotionally affecting and thoroughly accomplished piece of work...
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Karina Longworth, Cinematical
Bobcat Goldthwait has produced a flm that understands something about the gulf between what men claim they want from women, and the way they behave when we give it to them.
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Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
I liked the film but thought the bestiality theme held it back. A lot of people won't want to see the movie.
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Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
An evenly paced, gently acted and subdued black comedy with a subversive moral at its heart.
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Johnny Vaughan, Sun Online
Had me howling with laughter.
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James Christopher, Times [UK]
Hamilton is wonderful as the bruised victim of an oedipal insanity for truth.
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Anton Bitel, Film4
This low-budget comedy-drama may not have the glossiest of coats, but nor is it the dog you might be expecting.
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Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Despite its vomit-inducing revelation, this is a surprisingly sweet romcom with a strong comic performance by Hamilton and some thought-provoking things to say about relationships.
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Jane Crowther, Total Film
A bestiality rom-com with unexpected charm. Not quite the dog's bollocks, but certainly no dog's dinner either.
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, Little White Lies
Despite being thin on laughs and light on conventional romance, Sleeping Dogs manages to be both warm and witty.
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Sam Toy, Empire Magazine
You can rely on Goldthwaite to demolish sentimental notions with the power of a force ten gale, but clumsy filmmaking seriously hampers his idea's own effectiveness, resulting in a rather plodding black comedy.
Read all 23 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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A woman who gave her dog a blow job during college reveals her indiscretion to her fiance and tries to save the relationship.
Writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait continues to impress with another off-the-wall concept. He crafts the situations and plot with an ease that is surprising… More
A woman who gave her dog a blow job during college reveals her indiscretion to her fiance and tries to save the relationship.
Writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait continues to impress with another off-the-wall concept. He crafts the situations and plot with an ease that is surprising when one considers his eighties screaming comedy. He's also very good with actors, directing a very strong performance from his leading lady, Melinda Page Hamilton (Steve Agee isn't as good, but he can't win them all).
The film's composition and pacing is amateur at best. We get short, talky scenes, followed by an expository shot, followed by more short, talky scenes. The result is stagnation, and Amy's emotional arc isn't balanced. She cries at the end of the first two acts, and the scenes are identical, the last revealing little new about her character.
The film's theme is what's most interesting. Goldthwait's concept, that, in Amy's words, "It's important to lie. It's trying to live up to the lies that we tell about ourselves that makes us better people," has some validity. But what Goldthwait fails to consider is that no one is without baggage. The goal is to learn from it rather than carry it. While I don't think I can blame Goldthwait for presenting a view different from my own, I do think that his treatment of his theme is somewhat myopic.
Overall, I have to get used to the idea that Bobcat Goldthwait has matured into a provocative, growing filmmaker, and Sleeping Dogs Lie is a good introduction to his oeuvre.
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After seeing the triumphant 'World's Best Dad' I saught out this earlier work from Goldthwait and wasn't disappointed. Tackling the fundamental life questions around truth and honesty in relationships, it dares to challenge the romcom cliche 'honesty is always… More
After seeing the triumphant 'World's Best Dad' I saught out this earlier work from Goldthwait and wasn't disappointed. Tackling the fundamental life questions around truth and honesty in relationships, it dares to challenge the romcom cliche 'honesty is always the best policy'. The headline grabbing bestiality is only a comedy device but does seem an excessive example to use to make his points.
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<i>"A youthful, impulsive sexual encounter opens the door to a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty."</i>
An impulsive sexual encounter from her past haunts Amy, an otherwise seemingly normal young woman with a bright future and nice-guy fiancé. But… More
<i>"A youthful, impulsive sexual encounter opens the door to a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty."</i>
An impulsive sexual encounter from her past haunts Amy, an otherwise seemingly normal young woman with a bright future and nice-guy fiancé. But her fiancé has suggested that the couple be completely honest and tell each other everything! When Amy finally relents, encouraged to tell the truth by her coworker and mother (neither of whom really knows what she has to disclose), and reveals her secret, all hell breaks loose.
<b><u>Review</u></b>
Sleeping Dogs" is a sweet little indie romantic comedy about what happens to a nice girl when she admits to her fiancé that she once gave her pet dog a blow job.
Yes. You did read that correctly. The nice girl in this movie admits to giving her pet dog a blow job. She performed oral sex on a canine or, if you prefer, she blew the pooch.
I thought that "Sleeping Dogs" was just wonderful. Black and mortifying and awful and funny. Black comedy cut from the same cloth as the Todd Solondz movies "Happiness" and "Storytelling". Yes, "Sleeping Dogs" is a little rough around the edges (the lack of budget shows), but the performances are spot on and the script (dealing with serious questions about secrecy and honesty and how much somebody really needs to know about you before it starts to hurt them) is a little gem.
The comedian Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed "Sleeping Dogs". He was that loony Zed in some of the "Police Academy" films. Who'd have thought he could make such a good movie? And it is a good film. It's very good. Go and see it.
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What? This is so not normal...
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Tackles an interesting question. Should you tell your lover/fiancé absolutely every little secret about your past? I enjoyed the film; sometimes a white lie might be necessary.
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[font=Century Gothic]In "Sleeping Dogs Lie," Amy(Melinda Page Hamilton), a teacher, has just gotten engaged to John(Bryce Johnson), a would-be writer who has not gotten past the delivery department of the local weekly newspaper. Before the ceremonial visit to her strict… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Sleeping Dogs Lie," Amy(Melinda Page Hamilton), a teacher, has just gotten engaged to John(Bryce Johnson), a would-be writer who has not gotten past the delivery department of the local weekly newspaper. Before the ceremonial visit to her strict parents(Geoff Pierson & Bonita Friedericy), John asks what her wildest sexual experience was. She lies, fabricating a tryst with her best friend, Linda(Morgan Murphy), when in fact it was something involving her dog, freshman year in college...[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, "Sleeping Dogs Lie" is an uneven but entertaining movie. If it had taken full comedic advantage of its unique plot, this would have been a much wilder movie, but also one completely devoid of any taste. Surprisingly, the movie's strength lies on the serious side, especially late in the film when it does become rather touching.[/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]The movie does confuse honesty and full disclosure which are not the same thing. All couples should be honest with each other but coming clean about everything is not necessary and can be harmful.(The exceptions involve addiction and disease.) And let's face it. We have all done something we are ashamed of(believe it or not, I have voted Republican once or twice) but the level of shame depends on the activity and the person.[/font]
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Come on now. People didn't enjoy this little film. Anyone with an embarrassing story that they don't want revealed will appreciate this...and I know we all do. Cuter than the story premise would have you believe.
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You have gotta see this. Any women out there with a need for a little oral beastiality then this is the film for you.........oh god.
Read all 8 featured audience ratings
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