The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

Directed by Simon Curtis. Starring Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, Martin Donovan, Kathy Baker, McKinley Belcher III, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, (voice) Kevin Costner. [PG]

The life of an aspiring racecar driver, his doting wife, and their young daughter as seen through the eyes of a Golden Retriever dubbed Enzo (named after the founder of Ferrari). It could have been a fresh perspective, but only occasionally does the “doggy POV” affect the storytelling or voiceover commentary delivered by a low-energy Kevin Costner; for the most part, it’s just a bland weepie that takes a wrong turn somewhere along the way and never recovers (the “wrong turn” being when the wife gets sick, which veers even further when the narrative degrades into a melodramatic custody battle that never rings true). Those who don’t mind being blatantly manipulated may shed a tear or two—just as in Marley and Me, you know what’s going to happen to that dog before the end of the movie—but I cared too little about the superficially-developed characters to let it work it’s beginner’s magic on me. In fact, I didn’t even really care about Enzo, and I always root for a good movie pooch. Mark Bomback handled the screenplay, adapted from a novel by Garth Stein. Co-produced by Patrick Dempsey. Gary Cole has a small part.

41/100