PUPPY LOVE: Needs A Forever Home

What better way to infuse a rom-com than with the unconditional and irresistible love of dogs. For Nick Fabiano and Richard Alan Reid, their film Puppy Love attempts to capture the incredible connectivity of dogs and their owners to craft a story of love that transcends chaos and a post Covid world. And while it mostly works on a level of predictable entertainment, the film will struggle to find a forever home with its audiences.

The Missing Connection

There is a familiar feel as Puppy Love opens, the warmth of a rom com washing over its opening moments. Through the course of its first third, audiences are introduced to Nicole (Lucy Hale) and Max (Grant Gustin), each struggling to find a meaningful connection in their lives. For Nicole, she is met with heartbreak as her boyfriend ends their relationship citing a distance between them she refuses to push through. Max in contrast is ruled by his anxiety and OCD, struggling to return to work in a post Covid world. While it may come in different forms, they each carry the weight of other’s perceptions, pushing back while also looking for any effective means to connect.

This initial connection does not come from each other, Max is encouraged to adopt a dog while Nicole finds her canine companion abandoned in the trash by her apartment. Puppy Love works well to capture the instant connectivity a dog garners from its owner, even when the owner is initially reluctant to welcome. And with this connection comes the growing confidence to connect outside of their newly formed pack. Puppy Love grows this connection, allowing its central duo to reach into the void to find one another. And while the void takes a metaphorical representation through a modern social media app, it works to give the film the rom-com magic that audiences have fallen in love with for decades.

Yet, almost immediately, the film feels too long in its run time. This comes into play as characters and interactions are added to grow our central characters, many of these moments thrown away as quickly as they were introduced. One of these primary moments falls in the form of a dinner at Nicole’s mother’s house, the entire scene working to give insight into Nicole as a character, but feeling unnecessary in its existence. Too often, the character that suffers the most from these moments is Nicole, making for her attributes to be hollow and less realized. She is a character only defined by those around her, many times working to be the film’s means of comedic relief. She can only be categorized and understood through the perspectives and interpretations of others, taking away Nicole’s individuality. As these characters begin to fall away, leaving only Max and Nicole left to truly focus on, Puppy Love feels tighter in its run time and pacing, allowing for a more cohesive feel.

This authenticity and cohesion extends to the inclusion of the canines in the film. You can feel Max’s desire to connect, the push and pull of his anxiety the purest as he attempts to welcome Chloe into his home. Both Max and Nicole speak to their dogs as though they are human, an element of the film that will translate to audiences alike. In the purest moments of the film, the heart of the dog lover will find warmth, driving an appreciation and deep affinity for the film. And while it has its faults, this is where Puppy Love finds its deepest well of success.

Conclusion

Puppy Love does craft an ending that delivers the warm and fuzzies. While predictable and leaning into classic rom-com tropes, Puppy Love works to end on a high note, the film as a whole crescendoing with success as it works to its finish line.

Puppy Love is streaming now on Amazon Prime!

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