Sadly Over-hyped

It is a performances centric movie

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Anyone who longs to enjoy life must learn to live with limitations-- emotional limits, intellectual limits, physical limits, and so on. Each of us has the potential for personal growth that promises to increase our-- emotional stability, intellectual capacity, physical agility. It is inevitable that we will face situations that will test or break our limitations. When it happens, we'll gain firsthand knowledge of the adage: "The straw that broke the camel's back."The proverbial straw pushes a woman's (Heather Morgan) sanity beyond the limits of her emotional normalcy. As a result, she believes she's the family's pet pooch! Bark! shows the agony of breaking the boundaries of one's emotional limits. Through the use of well-timed and strategically placed flashbacks, the director (Kasia Adamik) unfolds the story of an emotionally wounded person who is losing her grip on reality. Each flashback provides a peek into the progression of pressures that damaged her psyche so deeply that she transformed herself into a dog. They also reveal the origins of her habitual barking. Not for nothing, it isn't easy to train a dog to stop nuisance barking. One quick trip to PetSmart for a High Tech Bark Terminator 3 bark control collar would remedy her incessant barking. A few jolts from it and the movie's title would be meaningless.Her husband (Lee Tergesen) struggles to comprehend what is happening inside the mind of his life-partner. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: I was extremely frustrated by the husband's reluctance toward committing his wife into a mental health facility. The character was deeply despaired and willing to try anything to aid his ailing wife. Sure, I get the joke in regard to finding a veterinarian to treat his pet wife.Bark! is funny in a subtle, comical way. Bark! is sad in a sullen, painful way. Most of all, Bark! is entertaining in a caring, thoughtful way. So, as the daily pressures of life begin building up, take a step back, and review your limitations--then ask yourself: "What is my barking point?"

Lee Tergesen and Heather Morgan saved the movie. Both actors played their parts beautifully. The movie has a very intelligent, sensitive story line, comedy only in the traditional sense - no one dies. Was pleased also that it was not a traditional "happy, Hollywood" ending.Especially loved Lee "standing up" to the Psycho MD… won't give away the rest.Lisa Kudrow was Kudrow… Is she really that ditzy in real life, that she's always cast in absolute idiot roles? And what was with Vincent D'Onofrio? Have never seen him before so I don't know if he's just yet another idiot. His character was such a caricature. What were all those "lunatic" people there for? They didn't really add anything to the plot. The plot stood on it's own. The "nuts" were superfluous.Despite all but two of the cast, the movie is worth seeing. The theme of mental illness is extremely well and sensitively portrayed.

Bark! is a movie you really can't put in some specific category, since it's not really a comedy nor serious enough to be considered a drama. It has got some good point, but mainly it fails to deliver. You're left with only one thought: What was the point of the movie, what did it try to say? When all goes down the hill, is it better to act like a dog and leave the cold hard world behind... It really tries to have some psychological angle to it but it really won't work.The Best thing about Bark! is that it finally gives Lee Tergesen ("Oz") the long overdue leading role. Vincent D'Onofrio ("Crooked Hearts") also gives a stellar performance as the resident doctor who has a larger interest in playing the harp. Hank Azaria ("America's Sweethearts") is left with pretty much nothing to do, as Lisa Kudrow ("Analyze This") reprises her Phoebe-manners for the umpteenth time. The lack of the material reflects on the characters, especially on scriptwriter Heather Morgan's barking wife Lucy. You would think that you write for yourself a good part, but not here the case.Good and bad beside only one thing will make this film be memorable - at least for the time being. That one thing is Scott Wilson ("Dead Man Walking") who does a great job as Lucy's dad. In a truly eccentric family his character might be the only sane person. Because of that the movie gets two stars instead of one and a half. ** (2 out of 5)

Peter's (Lee Tergeson) young wife Lucy (Heather Morgan) begins to act like a dog. 'Bark' is a naturalistic account, told with some flashbacks but mostly in chronological order, of how Peter comes to understand how Lucy has gradually slipped off the edge of sanity. What makes 'Bark' a comedy is Peter's success at creating a home and a family of friends for Lucy. Although mentally ill people have been treated before with levity (think of Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man') I can recall no other film that has approached the subject with such tenderness. Scenes of Peter bathing Lucy and of their apartment manager yelling through the ceiling to get her to stop barking and go back to sleep are original and memorable. Lisa Kudrow is hysterical as a neurotic veterinarian named Darla Portnoy, and Vincent D'Onofrio is convincing as the sad-sack psychiatric resident Malcolm who would rather play the harp.