Amy Walsh

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000)

Actors: Johnathon Schaech (actor), Lynn Redgrave (actress), Ty Olsson (actor), Kenneth Branagh (actor), Daniel Stern (actor), Lucinda Jenney (actress), Merrilyn Gann (actress), Doug Abrahams (actor), Jared Harris (actor), Mark Brandon (actor), Jay Brazeau (actor), Peter Riegert (actor), David Krumholtz (actor), Danny Dimbort (producer), Robin Wright (actress),

Plot: Shy, chain-smoking, insomniac Peter McGowan is an L.A. playwright with a string of hits that preceded his current ten years of failed productions. His mother-in-law is sinking into senility, a stranger is meandering the neighborhood claiming to be him, neighbors have a new dog that barks all night; his wife wants to have a child, and he does not: he's become impotent. He's working on a new play when a single mom moves in next door with her 8-year-old daughter. His wife immediately invites the girl into the McGowan household. Will this child stir Peter's paternal feelings? Will she also help him get his dialogue right? And what of his doppelganger and the neighbor's dog?

Keywords: actor, actress, affection, alzheimer's-disease, anger, angry-young-man, armenian, aromatherapy, author, autograph
Genres: Comedy, Drama,
Taglines: One man's pet is another man's peeve.

Quotes:

Larry: You're lucky. You got Melanie. There are men who'd die for her.::Peter McGowan: Yeah, die for her, or have her kill you. Either way, you're dead.::Larry: Still having trouble satiating, are we?::Peter McGowan: I think the doorbell's heard my wife shout "I'm coming" more than I have these days.

[Larry is dressed as a priest]::Peter McGowan: Can I have a valediction, father?::Larry: Say four Goly Fuck You's and keep drinking.

Peter McGowan: Are you drunk or something?::Larry: What time is it?::Peter McGowan: Four.::Larry: Yep.

Victoria: You're an alcoholic.::Adam: Alcoholics have class. I'm a fucking drunk.

Debra Salhany: So, how did you meet your wife?::Peter McGowan: She was a lap dancer, I had a pocket full of singles... No, she was a dancer. For a brief period, she gave acting a try. She came in for an audition, and the rest as they say is histrionics.::Debra Salhany: So, you employed the casting couch?::Peter McGowan: Hey, whatever works. You know that, Deborah.

Melanie McGowan: Other houses have M&Ms;, we stock up with Smarties. It's like living at the duty-free-shop at Heathrow.

Adam: They say women are the sensitive ones, but I've never seen it. They're as cold as party ice.::Victoria: I don't think that sucking on countless nipples makes one an authority on sensitivity.

Edna: You look just like my son-in-law.::Peter McGowan: I am your son-in-law, Edna.::Edna: My son-in-law's name is Peter.::Peter McGowan: No. I said your name was Edna. My name is Peter.::Edna: You just said your name was Edna... Edna's a funny name for a man. Been teased over the years?::Peter McGowan: Mercilessly. "Pete."

[Traffic report]::Laura Leeton: If the 405 is your morning route, I hope you don't have a history of showing up late to work, 'cause today you're fired.

Peter McGowan: Hollywood doesn't want writers, so much as secretaries with a flare for dialogue. If you want to be happy in Hollywood, be a cinematographer. Nobody knows what you're doing, so they can't screw with you.