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Lawn Dogs

Play trailer Poster for Lawn Dogs R 1998 1h 41m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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72% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Kentucky snobs (Christopher McDonald, Kathleen Quinlan) discourage their 10-year-old daughter's fascination with a working-class laborer (Sam Rockwell).
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Lawn Dogs

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 01/01/2000
1.5/4
John Duigan's Lawn Dogs is like a nasty accident at the symbol factory. Pieces are scattered all over the floor as the wounded help each other to the exits. Go to Full Review
Jake Euker F5 (Wichita, KS) 03/09/2006
3/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/29/2005
3/5
Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall 09/19/2004
4/5
a minor classic - look for it! Go to Full Review
Judith Egerton Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) 06/28/2004
3/4
While it's true that fairy tales paint good and evil in black and white, Wallace's story suffers from such a simplistic presentation. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 01/17/2003
2.5/4
...what really kills the movie and leaves it with an aftertaste worse than raw garlic, is the ethereal ending. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Bill S Feb 4 Interesting movie. Definitely worth a watch if you're bored. See more Steve D 02/13/2023 The acting is solid but it is just too disturbing for its tone, See more Luciano B 12/10/2022 Love this movie and its themes. The cast are all really good and the storytelling is very top notch. See more 10/08/2021 Our protagonist is Ten-year-old girl Devon Stockard , she is alone and isolated as the family has recently moved with aspirations of her fairly rich father to become board member of local community. She develops friendship with a 20 something young man who mows lawns around her neighbourhood, the son of a soldier father, he lives a secluded life in trailer as Trent is reviled and looked down upon by those he works for. Rather than the neighbourhood, it is the girl's parents including her debauched mother that make her feel like a free witch with belief in pagan beings around her. She takes the freedom of urinating on the windshield glass of the car and get it washed with car wiper. The movie runs as psychological drama, the girl is more intelligent than her age, towards the end she save the life of her friend. They end up true and loyal to each other with the following terms:- "we're not friends, we are hunters! See more 09/25/2020 Kinda creepy, kinda cool . Kinda corny, kinda cool . Idk what to make of this . I thought the girl was so good at acting until about 15 minutes left 3.2 See more 03/24/2019 She loved him, and she saved him and engineered his escape, and he can never come back. She's shot the man who tried to molest her, and perhaps killed him. What's left for her now? There are numerous hints in the movie, little signs. The constant emphasis on the colour red - blood red. The hole in the middle of those cookies - like a bullet hole. Devon insisting she mustn't climb that tree because if she does it will put too much of a strain on her heart, implying that could kill her. And finally the significance of the earlier falling-out-of-the-tree scene. Going up the ribbon-tree at the end meant she could save his life, by some strange nature magic - even if only in her head. But the ending we don't see is her fall, her death, the sacrifice which seals the magic. A life for a life. There's a lot more to this film than a casual viewing shows you, and the acting of Mischa Barton is stunning - and absolutely crucial to making the movie believable. Mischa may have had troubles later in her life, but here she is incredibly talented. Bravo, Mischa, for leaving us this performance. See more Read all reviews
Lawn Dogs

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Movie Info

Synopsis Kentucky snobs (Christopher McDonald, Kathleen Quinlan) discourage their 10-year-old daughter's fascination with a working-class laborer (Sam Rockwell).
Director
John Duigan
Producer
Duncan Kenworthy
Screenwriter
Naomi Wallace
Distributor
Strand Releasing
Production Co
Toledo Pictures, The Rank Organization [gb]
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 15, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 21, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA)
$106.3K
Runtime
1h 41m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital
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