Wendy and Lucy (2008)

This post will contain spoilers.

First, I was afraid Lucy, the dog, would die in the first five minutes. Then I was afraid she'd live.

Wendy is an entirely unsympathetic character. The film does no work toward making the viewer feel her plight. We don't know why she's trying to find work in Alaska. We don't know anything about her past. We don't know anything about her other than she has a hard time keeping hold of her dog. I was, therefore, entirely unsympathetic at her arrest for attempting to steal a single can of Alpo. Wendy has a little over $500--the film makes a point of showing us her ledger--and one can of dog food will maybe feed a dog that size for a day. Meanwhile, her arrest cost her more than several bags of dog food and made me think her a moron. I was worried for Lucy but I did not care that Wendy did not have her. Instead I thought that whatever fate had befallen Lucy had to be better than someone who is clearly inept--she was, afterall tied outside the store and most likely could not have gotten away by herself so the whole Lucy-is-in-a-foster-home-surprise was not a surprise. Neither was Wendy leaving her there.

Waste of my time.