Kicking the Dog is a raunchy comedy about a group of sex-obsessed
school chums who are in the stage in life where they are just about
to go their separate ways. Providing comic relief to the film are
three high school kids who are always hanging around and listening
to the more experienced guys. (One of them is a younger brother.)
Since the film had a budget of literally zero, the story takes place
entirely in a two-day period in summer, and is located entirely in
typical middle-class suburban homes and lawns. The entire film was
allegedly shot and edited in the director's house. (Except, I
suppose, for a few moments which take place in the local porn shop,
where one of the characters has a summer job.)
With no action of any kind, and virtually no plot, the essence of
the film is drunken sex talk. The three main male characters talk
about their wildest sexual adventures, much to the dismay of their
female companions. The most dismayed female is a virginal college
grad who is in love with one of the young rakes. Not only does she
dislike hearing about all of his lurid past sexual adventures, but
her annoyance is exacerbated by the fact that he has not ever made
love to her in six months of dating, and pushes her away when she
tries to amend that situation.
This film is primitive. It's much too talky, and the male
characters tend to lapse into monologues, much like the early
efforts of Kevin Smith. Those characters seem to discuss sex with a
naiveté inconsistent with the exploits they describe. What's more,
the editing is rudimentary, some of the actors are weak, and some of
the main plot threads are left hanging when the movie ends. On the
other hand, those same things are true about Clerks, and that film
worked out fine because it had other positive characteristics which
made up for the weak elements: bawdy humor, frankly realistic
dialogue, and insights about the lives of people of that generation
trapped in a certain kind of slacker existence.
KTD doesn't have many insights, but it does provide some guilty
pleasures. The slice-of-life script somewhat compensates for its
plotlessness with some interesting characters. I found four of the
main characters to be developed very effectively, and performed
competently. The two lovers showed enough depth that I was
interested in their story, and I got some laughs from the
performances delivered by coldest of the chums and one of the high
school kids. Because of those characterizations, a couple of funny
set pieces, and some entertaining dialogue, I found the film worth
the watch, despite some clumsy moments.
