Old-Fashioned Dark Comedy Fun With a Kick – And the Next Great Dog Star Introduced!

I confess, I am a David Hewlett fan (“McKay” is one of my favorite characters of all time), also I’m a Stargateophile (gatephiliac?) and pretty serious fanatic, however, I don’t automatically and blindly “love” everything out just because it’s attached to Stargate, either SG-1 or Atlantis. I like to think I have an independent mind to some extent. 

A Dog’s Breakfast sounded like a cute project, and I enjoyed reading the Hewlett dgeek.com blog and watching the squirrels (his self-named fans) spin an ever-widening and impressive marketing buzz like never seen before. And yes, I follow dhewlett on Twitter. But I still reserved my opinion until I could view the film.

I love the old screwball comedies, Cary Grant, Tracy & Hepburn, and I loved Peter Seller’s Inspector Clouseau. These were comparisons Hewlett made for his film, and it caught my interest on a level other than sci-fi (spoken reverently).

So, when I popped this little indie film into my DVD and started watching, several things happened. 

1) I fell in love with Mars the dog, totally and completely! 

2) I adored Kate Hewlett (even though she’d already won me over in “McKay and Mrs. Miller” (Atlantis reference)) 

3) Discovered Paul McGillion was hilarious 

4) Tried to mimic Chris Judge’s fantastic facial expressions, and

5) I totally loved the screwball, far-fetched and often very clever film 

Silly? Oh ya. Goofy? Most definitely. Over the top? You betcha. But, it also had this core of sweetness (not sloppy, icky, sticky sweetness, but good, warm, real sweetness), a warmth running through it that was subtle and unmistakable.

The behind-the-scenes segments and features on the DVD opened me up to the Dog’s Breakfast “inner circle,” so that I felt a part of the movie and let in on the inside jokes, which is not only a clever marketing angle, but it also increased my enjoyment and gave me a real connection to the crew and the film…and made me salivate (my homage to Mars) in anticipation of their next film. 

Bottom line: fun movie with a lot of energy, nice subtle yet warm “moral,” laughs galore, a few groans of mock-agony as it went over the top here and there, and I grinned, giggled and laughed out loud through the entire film. And I wanted a signed photo of Mars in the worst way!

write by Jon Brecht