''Dog Days'' is a 2018 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Ken Marino Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as '' Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', '' Burning Love'', and '' Chil ...

and written by Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama. It stars

Eva Longoria Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón ( Longoria; March 15, 1975) is an American actress, producer, and director. After a number of guest roles on several television series, she was recognized for her portrayal of Isabella Braña on the CBS daytim ...

Nina Dobrev Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva ( bg, Николина Каменова Добрева, ; born January 9, 1989), credited professionally as Nina Dobrev ( ), is a Canadian actress. She is best known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce o ...

Vanessa Hudgens Vanessa Anne Hudgens (; born December 14, 1988) is an American actress and singer. After making her feature film debut in '' Thirteen'' (2003), Hudgens rose to fame portraying Gabriella Montez in the ''High School Musical'' film series (2006 ...

Lauren Lapkus Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian. Lapkus is known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO come ...

Thomas Lennon Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!'' Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major st ...

Adam Pally Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Max Blum in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' and as Dr. Peter Prentice in '' The Mindy Project''. He also starr ...

Ryan Hansen Ryan Hansen is an American actor, entrepreneur and comedian. He is best known for starring as Dick Casablancas on the noir drama series ''Veronica Mars'' (2004–2019), as Kyle Bradway on the Starz comedy series ''Party Down'' (2009–2010), and ...

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

Tone Bell Michael Anthony Bell II (born August 10, 1983), known professionally as Tone Bell, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Early life Bell was born in Decatur, Georgia. He taught first grade before working on the production of HBO's '' War ...

, Jon Bass and

Finn Wolfhard Finn Wolfhard (born December 23, 2002) is a Canadian actor and musician. He gained recognition for playing Mike Wheeler (Stranger Things character), Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present). His film roles include ...

. The plot follows the intertwining lives of various dogs and their owners around

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. The movie was released on August 8, 2018, by LD Entertainment, and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Los Angeles, California, is the main and heart-warming scenario where life and fate interconnect five different stories as well as their characters with their respective canine pets: Elizabeth is a famous newscaster of a morning TV show; after a disastrous interview with former football player Jimmy, Elizabeth's boss decides to contract Jimmy as co-host due to the high ratings of the interview. In another part of the city, Tara, a barista at a coffee shop who passes her days talking with her shallow, dog-walker friend Daisy. Tara, who is crazy about the friendly but full of himself vet Dr. Mike, one day meets Garrett, the eccentric and shy owner of an animal care center who is unable to tell Tara that he loves her. Grace and Kurt are a married couple struggling to properly prepare for their adoptive daughter, Amelia, to arrive. When she moves in, she doesn't seem happy with her new home and her new parents. Dax is a teen in the body of adult, and leader of the aspiring rock band Frunk, who after a visit to his pregnant sister Ruth and her husband Greg, is forced to take care of Ruth's dog, despite his building not allowing dogs. Finally Walter, an aging, lonely widower, loses his dog when it escapes and runs off. Tyler, his regular pizza delivery driver unexpectedly offers to help find her. As time moves on, things become more complicated: Elizabeth and Jimmy start to feel attracted to each other, making their work more difficult. After they've been dating for some time, Elizabeth finds out (from her makeup artist) that Jimmy has been offered a position hosting a show on another channel. Tara accepts Garrett’s offer to work as volunteer in his animal care center at the same time she starts to date Dr. Mike; meanwhile Garrett learns that the owner of the building has sold it and he'll lose the center. Amelia finds Walter's dog, which makes her happy, but Grace and Kurt fear that one day Amelia will lose her new friend if the owner appears; Dax is caring for Ruth's dog, although eventually it starts to put order in his life, even as it creates trouble to hide it from his neighbors. Walter begins helping Tyler with his academic studies in exchange for help finding his dog. Jimmy's has to put his dog Brandy down after she suffers a stroke. After hearing the news Elizabeth realizes she loves Jimmy and wants to be with him. Tara works to help Garrett save his animal shelter by organizing a fund-raiser with live music, which culminates in all the main characters' fates intertwining in unexpected ways.

Cast

as Tara, a barista * Michael Cassidy as Mike, a veterinarian * Jon Bass as Garrett, who runs a dog shelter *

as Elizabeth, who hosts a morning show *

as Jimmy, an athlete *

as Dax, a musician * Jessica St. Clair as Ruth, Dax's pregnant sister *

as Greg, Ruth's husband *

Ron Cephas Jones Ron Cephas Jones (born January 8, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama series '' This Is Us'' (2016–2022), which earned him four consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning twice for Outstanding Gues ...

as Walter, a widower *

as Tyler, a pizza delivery boy *

as Grace, who is adopting a daughter *

as Kurt, Grace's husband * Elizabeth Caro as Amelia, who is adopted by Grace and Kurt *

as Daisy, a dog-walker *

John Gemberling John Gemberling (born February 1, 1981) is an American actor and comedian best known for roles as Bevers on the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', as Gil on the NBC sitcom '' Marry Me'', and as John Hancock on the Fox sitcom '' Making History' ...

as Ernie, Mike's assistant *

Jessica Lowe ''Wrecked'' is an American sitcom that was created by Jordan Shipley and Justin Shipley for TBS. The series is about a group of people stranded on an island, after their airplane crashed in the ocean and is a parody of '' Lost''. The 10-episode ...

as Amy, the makeup girl at Elizabeth's show * Phoebe Neidhardt as Alexa, a weather girl *

Toks Olagundoye Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye (born 16 September 1975) is a Nigerian actress.Tig Notaro Mathilde O'Callaghan "Tig" Notaro (born March 24, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress. She is known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album ''Live'' was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Be ...

as Danielle, a dog therapist * David Wain as Wacky Wayne, a clown *

as Peter, Elizabeth's boyfriend *

Jasmine Cephas Jones Jasmine Cephas Jones (born July 21, 1989) is an American-British actress, singer, and producer, who originated the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in the Broadway stage musical '' Hamilton''. In 2020, Cephas Jones won a Primet ...

as Lola, a singer in Dax's band * Tony Cavalero as Stanley, a drummer in Dax's band

Production

In August 2017, it was announced

would direct the film, from a screenplay by Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama, with Mickey Liddell, Jennifer Monroe and Pete Shilaimon producing under their LD Entertainment banner. In September 2017, Finn Wolfhard, Vanessa Hudgens, Tone Bell, Adam Pally, Eva Longoria, and Jon Bass joined the cast of the film. In October 2017,

Tig Notaro Mathilde O'Callaghan "Tig" Notaro (born March 24, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress. She is known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album ''Live'' was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Be ...

, Michael Cassidy,

, Ryan Hansen, Thomas Lennon, Lauren Lapkus, Jessica Lowe,

Toks Olagundoye Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye (born 16 September 1975) is a Nigerian actress.Jessica St. Clair and David Wain joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in October 2017, in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Release

The film was released on August 8, 2018 by LD Entertainment.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''Dog Days'' was projected to gross $5–9 million from 2,442 theaters over its five-day opening weekend. The film made $635,164 on its opening day, a Wednesday, and another $405,000 on its second for a two-day total of $1 million. It went on to have an opening weekend of $2.6 million, for a five-day debut of just $3.6 million. In its second weekend of release, the film was removed from 55 theaters across the country, dropping 66% and grossing $868,664.

Critical response

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Dog Days'' is frivolous but frothy, sporting a forgettable cast of human characters but a lovable troupe of pooches that ought to delight viewers looking for a gentle affirmation of humanity's bond with their furry friends." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7365604 2018 films American drama films Films shot in Los Angeles Films about dogs Films about pets LD Entertainment films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films