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In Hangdog, the debut feature from husband-and-wife team Matt Cascella (director/editor) and Jen Cordery (writer), a young-ish couple has just moved to Portland, Maine, where Wendy (Kelly O’Sullivan, Saint Frances) has returned to help take care of her ailing father. Her boyfriend Walt (Desmin Borges, Only Murders in the Building, FX's You’re the Worst) feels somewhat lost in this new location, leaving him jobless and anxiety-ridden because he’s aimless and feeling unworthy of Wendy’s love. Wendy also wanted a dog when they moved to Portland, so now they have a dog named Tony, who frequently sleeps between them at night and seems to be in competition for affection from Wendy…a competition that Walt frequently loses.
Wendy must leave for a work trip that could change the course of her career, leaving Walt to care for the dog (Wendy frequently refers to Tony as her fur baby, which is gross) alone for the first time. Naturally, the dog is stolen out from under him while he’s in a weed store buying a joint to deal with his anxiety, and rather than tell Wendy, he begins the endless search to retrieve the presumably stolen animal before Wendy returns.
What follows is less a plot-driven story and more of a self-examination on Walt’s part as he comes into contact with new people in his search—people who challenge him to confront his fears and use human connection as a means of healing and feeling worthy of Wendy. Just before she leaves, she asks him to marry her; he foolishly says no, but only because he thinks she asked because she was afraid he never would. The joke is on her, because Walt actually had a ring for her and was building up the courage to ask, which may have taken several more years with his issues currently stopping him from doing the right thing.
There are going to be some audience members who simply can’t handle Borges’ take on Walt. He frequently seems to take the longest route to get where he needs to be emotionally, and it becomes frustrating to watch him struggle all the time. His interactions with an older neighbor, Marianne (Barbara Rosenblat), and a local named Brent (Steve Coulter), who helps him in his search for Tony, are far more enjoyable than observing Walt flail solo, allowing his life to spiral and implode for no good reason.
Borges played a similar character in the series You’re the Worst, only that character acknowledged his mental deficiency and sought the mental health care that he required. Putting it bluntly, Walt can be a lot at any one moment, especially when he’s in full panic mode. That said, watching Walt slowly emerge from his shell is a believable and often funny process that saves Hangdog from being a complete downer. This is one of those small gems to watch when all you want to do is lose yourself in characters you can actually imagine being your friends, and there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
Hangdog is now available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV.
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