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How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

Play trailer Poster for How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog R 2002 1h 47m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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59% Tomatometer 34 Reviews 73% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Peter (Kenneth Branagh) is a successful playwright who has hit a dry spell. His wife Melanie (Robin Wright Penn) wants a baby, but Peter isn't ready. His mother-in-law (Lynn Redgrave) has moved in. He's being stalked by a fan who thinks that he is Peter. After his new neighbor's dog starts barking in the middle of the night, Peter starts to spend time with their daughter Amy (Suzi Hofrichter). He begins to form a friendship with her and realizes how to solve his writer's block...
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How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

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Critics Consensus

With a killer plot that fails to thicken despite a standout performance by Kenneth Branagh:How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog plays out as insipid drollery.

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Critics Reviews

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Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter 02/27/2004
Has an unusually high ratio of laughs per minute. Go to Full Review Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle 03/01/2002
2/4
Falsehoods pile up, undermining the movie's reality and stifling its creator's comic voice. Go to Full Review Gene Seymour Newsday 02/22/2002
2.5/4
Kenneth Branagh's energetic sweet-and-sour performance as a curmudgeonly British playwright grounds this overstuffed, erratic dramedy in which he and his improbably forbearing wife contend with craziness and child-rearing in Los Angeles. Go to Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 03/04/2017
C+
Fails to overcome its vapid drama. Go to Full Review Jason Gorber Film Scouts 06/21/2007
B-
This is an agreeable but hardly challenging film, a movie perfect for a night by the fire when you want to curl up and relax. Go to Full Review Betsy Bozdech DVDJournal.com 11/09/2006
2.5/4
Aside from its mouthful of a title and Robin Wright Penn's monumentally bad haircut, How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog actually has a lot going for it. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Steve D 09/23/2023 Sometimes offensive. Sometimes too dark, often scattered, never good. See more 09/12/2016 This is that type of arthaus film most actors, actresses, & directors want to do at least once in their career. Which actually includes nearly half of Branagh's work. See more 01/13/2016 it starts very slow, eventually it is good. See more Jason K 08/12/2013 One of my favs, and a look at what living with me might be like if ever i find someone. See more 03/17/2013 Lines and Ken's performance are entertaining. See more 10/14/2012 I've had this sitting in my dvd collection for a long time but did not know what the hell it was (I got it free from a newspaper) Anyway, I put it on to give it a bash and I'm glad I did because it was ace. Kenneth Branagh is very funny in this , the wee girl in it was also ace as is the rest of the cast. Very funny and touching, bittersweet and feelgood. See more Read all reviews
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

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Cast & Crew

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Michael Kalesniko

Director

Kenneth Branagh

Peter McGowan

Robin Wright

Melanie McGowan

Jared Harris

False Peter

Johnathon Schaech

Adam

Peter Riegert

Larry

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How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000) (L to R) Suzi Hofrichter, Robin Wright Penn, Kenneth Branagh, and Lucina Jenney. (L to R) Peter Riegert and Kenneth Branagh. Robin Wright Penn. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Peter (Kenneth Branagh) is a successful playwright who has hit a dry spell. His wife Melanie (Robin Wright Penn) wants a baby, but Peter isn't ready. His mother-in-law (Lynn Redgrave) has moved in. He's being stalked by a fan who thinks that he is Peter. After his new neighbor's dog starts barking in the middle of the night, Peter starts to spend time with their daughter Amy (Suzi Hofrichter). He begins to form a friendship with her and realizes how to solve his writer's block...
Director
Michael Kalesniko
Producer
Michael Nozik, Brad Weston, Nancy M. Ruff
Screenwriter
Michael Kalesniko
Distributor
Artistic License
Production Co
Lonsdale Pictures, Millennium Films, South Fork Pictures
Rating
R (Language)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 22, 2002, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$48.6K
Runtime
1h 47m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Surround
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