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| DIRECTED BY |
| John Duigan
|
| STARRING |
| Mischa Barton |
| Sam Rockwell |
| Christopher McDonald |
| Kathleen Quinlan |
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Although most of the actual characters are far too phony and stereotypical to be taken as seriously as the film clearly wants us to take them, Mischa Barton is just excellent as the precociously imaginative young girl who does weird and often inexplicable things like strip down and howl out to dogs from her rooftop at night (this is a particularly impressive scene.)
�Lawn Dogs� � at times � gives very interesting insight into the fantastically furtive imagination of a 10 year old (witness the great rising water/forest special effects near the end.) But the film ultimately gets depressing and malicious � which isn�t always a bad thing in cinema, but it�s clearly inappropriate for a film that�s best when it has a charmingly benign ambience. Director Duigan appears to be going for too many sexual undertones here � what�s with that kissing scene between Rockwell and that other guy? It just seems utterly pointless. And as for Rockwell � his performance is adequate but his character would�ve been better left more mysterious because that whole subplot with his parents was unnecessarily depressing for a film of this nature.
And the film thrives upon stereotypes � the cruel and prurient bullies; the promiscuous mom; the over-protective dad; the nosey cop. Most of these characters are given eccentric spins but they still seem mostly artificial. Maybe if �Lawn Dogs� explored the Barton/Rockwell relationship, the people who they know, and the community that they live in on a less stereotypical and more believable level then it would�ve been a more effective film in the long run.
