DARLING COMPANION

Empty-nester Beth, played by Diane Keaton, loves her dog, Freeway, more than her doctor husband. Meanwhile, her doctor husband, Joseph (Kevin Kline), loves his work more than her. When Joseph loses Freeway at their vacation home in the Rocky Mountains after a family wedding, emotional hell breaks loose. "You love spinal surgery more than you love me!" Beth basically screams over and over. "You are menopausal!" Joseph basically screams back. In most movies starring a dog, the dog actor is the worst on-screen. But in Darling Companion, you can't help but empathize with poor Freeway, forced to flee into the Rockies to escape this self-absorbed, screamy family, and can only wish that the film builds to their eventual deaths. (CIENNA MADRID)