Lawn Dogs (1997) User Reviews

A little bit of magic.

[Hermit C-2 · 8/10 · 10 June 1999]

This is the kind of movie that independent film fans search for and hope to find. It's well-written, acted and directed with a story that's off the beaten path a bit, to be sure. It concerns the odd relationship between two people who don't exactly fit in the world an upscale suburban housing community. One is a 10 -year old girl named Devon (Mischa Barton) whose parents want her to be the perfect little daughter. She'd rather live in her own world, one in which she entertains herself with her favorite fairy tale of the child-menacing witch, Baba Yaga. The other is a twentysomething yard worker named Trent (Sam Rockwell), who is treated in this paranoid community almost like a black South African under apartheid, i.e. get in, do you work and get out.

Both of them display their non-conformist behavior early on. She climbs out her bedroom window to her roof, takes off her nightgown and watches it magically float away into the night sky. He stops on his way home from work on a one-lane bridge, blocking the traffic, and proceeds to disrobe and take a leap into the river below. Devon gets interested in him, especially after she witnesses his blatant and subtle humiliation at a neighborhood cookout, where he's come to get paid for some work. She more or less stalks him at his mobile home, even spying on him making love to one of the community's young women, a girl who will barely acknowledge him otherwise. Trent tries to shoo Devon away at first, but he can't help but be flattered by the young girl's interest.

Of course the potential for misunderstanding in this kind of relationship is great and it inevitably happens. I feared that the movie was about to fly apart after Devon's father and some others confronted Trent, but the fantastic ending (fantastic in the sense of fantasy) made me smile. If you are looking for something different, this movie definitely qualifies.

Magical realism with a twist

[Libretio · 6/10 · 9 January 2005]

LAWN DOGS

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

The haves and have-nots are put under the microscope in John Duigan's diverting drama LAWN DOGS, and it's the haves who come up wanting in every respect. Sam Rockwell (CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND) is the penniless gardener-cum-handyman who makes a fragile living tending the lawns of contemptuous rich folk, all of whom view him with deep suspicion whilst indulging their own dubious peccadilloes behind closed doors. Mischa Barton (THE SIXTH SENSE, TV's "The O.C.") is a lonely 10 year old girl who's been shielded from the world by her wealthy parents following a recent health scare (she has a faulty heart), but she dares to strike up a friendship with Rockwell after stumbling onto his ramshackle home in the woods, a friendship which she pursues against Rockwell's wishes, until their 'secret' is forced into the open and grossly misinterpreted by Barton's vengeful family.

While the moneyed set lives in antiseptic splendour and conceals its hypocrisy behind security measures of every description, Rockwell's character enjoys an open life in a beautiful forest environment, like the witch Baba Yaga in Barton's favourite fairy tale. In fact, there's a magical, otherworldly quality to much of the film (rendered explicit in the final reel), though the central narrative is fairly low-key and revolves around Rockwell's frequent encounters with the dissolute low-lifes who dare to think themselves superior. With his wiry frame and white trash southern accent, Rockwell strikes something of a romantic figure (watch out for his full-frontal nude scene early in the film), though he never stoops to eccentricity or excess. For one so young, Barton is excellent in such a demanding role, and she holds her own against an experienced adult cast (including Christopher McDonald and Kathleen Quinlan as Barton's narrow-minded parents, and Eric Mabius as the rich jock who can barely conceal his attraction to Rockwell). Beautiful cinematography by Elliot Davis (KING OF THE HILL).

Must see Mischa Barton in this film

[smatysia · 7/10 · 31 May 2004]

Mischa Barton really blew me away in this film. I usually don't care much for child actors, and I went into this film thinking that way. But Barton seemed, with few exceptions, to BE her character. But there's a lot more than just pretty good acting from a precocious child. Barton was a major league charmer. You just couldn't take your eyes off her whenever she was on-screen. Sam Rockwell was decent, and no one else really showed much except maybe Angie Harmon in a small part. (She did have a rare topless scene in this film) But most of the characters do weird things, with no tie-in at all to any reason for their conduct. I think this may be thought by some to be character development, but I think it is either laziness or insufficiently imaginative screenwriters. But in any case you should check out this film just to see Barton. Grade: B

Sam Rockwell...well...Rocks!

[SamLowry-2 · 9/10 · 1 April 1999]

Sam Rockwell has been had. He lit up the screen in "Box of Moonlight," is a major player in the upcoming "Midsummer Night's Dream," and yet he didn't get equal billing for screen time in either of those films. What gives? In "Lawn Dogs" Rockwell is stunning as the lawn boy who accepts a little "rich" girl as a friend and gives her a new view of the world. The movie is rich in atmosphere and color. The central Southern United States has rarely appeared so docile and yet so menacing. Every time I thought I knew where "Lawn Dogs" was going...it pulled another pleasant surprise. Mischa Barton is amazing as Devon Stockard, the little girl with more on her mind than selling cookies. This is truly one of the best American films of the 90's. If you like off-beat slices of America with a twisted view, then "Lawn Dogs" is the best movie you'll see in a long time. It is quite simply full of the magic, menace and imagination alive in the heads and hearts of little girls...about to become young women. Oh yeah, and give Sam Rockwell his due!

A hugely original and surprising drama.

[sackleywhistle · 10/10 · 25 September 2002]

I first saw this film on late night BBC in England and was half watching it while packing for college. By the half way mark, i was sucked in and couldn't not watch.

The first thing that will knock you out is Sam Rockwell. Over the last few years he has risen in fame due to high-profile parts in Charlie's Angels, The Green Mile and Mamet's Heist, but here is the arrival of a veritable acting talent. His is a simple, truthful unshowy performance that resonates throughout the film without crushing it. He is the film's heart, rather than a scene-stealer. As we learn more about his poor, white-trash lawn cutter, we sympathise and begin to realise how easily the reactions of others higher up on the food chain conspire to create chaos for him.

I won't give too much about the story away, because it frequently heads off in new, interesting directions, but essentially this is the story of Devon (newcomer child actor Mischa Barton) and the above mentioned Trent (Rockwell) and their relationship. He is poor, she comes from wealthy stock, but feels out of place in her materialistic world and they are both children of nature. What makes it compelling is that she knows this and revels in it and Trent has to be shown, by her.

John Duigan does a wonderful job of introducing strands and themes which at first seem offbeat and peculiar but which all add to the sense prejudice, division and isolation felt by these two brillaintly-wrought characters. Each find the other intriguing but are hesitant to become close because of others' values. Eventually they become friends and just as they accept this, the world around them turns on them and what started out as an irreverent comedy-drama, turns into something much darker and even terrifying.

Where the film goes from there, I will leave to you to discover. Please do, because this is a very unique film in American independent cinema. Much like the more high-profile American Beauty, what at first seems like character cliche and predictability rapidly leads you down the path least expected. Its beautifully shot, making full use of a handful of gorgeous locations, wonderfully acted, particularly by Barton and Rockwell, but also by the ever-reliably sleazy Christopher Mcdonald (Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore and Louise's husband in Thelma & Louise), the quietly strong Kathleen Quinlan and the lesser spotted Bruce McGill in one of his best roles as security guard Nash. The music is also peerless, at first playful and calm, building to a dramatic climax.

That climax is what makes this film stand head and shoulders above the rest. An emotional pay-off such as you have never seen in a film of this ilk. 9/10

Moving and involving story of friendship which acts as an ode to the American poor

[bob the moo · 3 August 2003]

Trent is a young man living in a trailer in a wooded area beyond the suburbs. He makes a living cutting the massive lawns of the populace of a gated suburb village. He befriends a young girl from within the suburb, who herself has some stability issues, despite being only 10 years old. The two build a friendship despite the resentment towards the `white trash' Trent from within the suburb,

I didn't know what this film was about before I sat and watched it, reading the plot summary in the tv guide as the title sequence began, I wondered if I would bother, but I'm glad I did. The film works on several level – the most apparent of which is the simple story of a friendship that is threatened. This part works well as the friendship never seems forced and, although the spectre of sexual tension is there (in Trent occasionally feeling uncomfortable), it is not a strand that is actually part of their relationship.

This all works well due (in most part) to two great performances from Barton and Rockwell. Barton shows amazing maturity and ability to carry the role off without it being like many child stars (where it is clear they are forcing everything). Rockwell meanwhile is a mass of subtleties and little touches that make his character likeable.

However this part wouldn't work as well if it weren't for the wider theme of the trash being poorly treated by the smugger middle classes. This theme creates the reason for the threat to their friendship (more or less) but it also serves as a humbling attack on a class that lives a selfish, scared life behind gates with private security guards. Such places are increasingly common in America and this film is clear as to their effect on both those inside them as well as the wider community of America. Although it keeps a gentle tone for the most, the film depicts those in the suburb as selfish, aloof and fearful. Even more condemning about this depiction is that it never feels like they have been exaggerated or monsterised in any way!

The script is well written and certainly makes the actors jobs a lot easier – certainly Barton benefits from great dialogue and character development. Rockwell meanwhile benefits more from direction as much of his best work is not dialogue based. McDonald, Quinlan and McGill all do solid work in support. The end of the film is a little worrying as it appears to veer off at a tangent, but the final sentiment is beautifully presented and encouraging (albeit due to a child's apparent naivety).

Overall this is a lovely film that I'm very glad I watched. About more than just an adult/child friendship, this film is moving and involving in both it's core plot and it's wider themes.

Left me a little uneasy!

[Pat-54 · 7/10 · 20 April 1999]

I thought this film was excellent and the performance of Sam Rockwell was a real star turn for the actor. But being the father of a daughter, the relationship between Rockwell and the 10 year-old girl made me uneasy. It really pushed the envelope about their relationship.

Brave and perceptively written drama

[fertilecelluloid · 9/10 · 27 December 2004]

This superb film, directed by John Duigan, the gifted director of THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE, is about a friendship between a young girl (Mischa Barton of "The OC") and a free-spirited young, adult man (Sam Rockwell).

It's self-aware enough to acknowledge the inherent sensitivity of its subject matter, but it doesn't cave into conservative conclusions about how such a relationship ought to be portrayed.

At heart, LAWN DOGS is about trust, not the death of innocence or the festering political correctness all around us that sees danger in every unconventional relationship. It does touch on the subject of sexual abuse, but it doesn't come at it from the angle you'd suspect...and that's the whole point, isn't it? Sexual abuse, for the most part, usually visits as someone you've known well enough to trust completely.

Beyond its politics, this is a unique, bracing fantasy that is more European than American (or Australian) in its view world both morally and visually. The climax is an unexpected treat and its moral resolution arrives just in the nick of time.

Sumptuously photographed and written with great intelligence by Naomi Wallace, it dares to be erotic, provoking, unconventional and incisive.

Don't pass it up if you get an offer.

Innocence is a dangerous friend

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 7/10 · 4 January 2015]

I'm a fan of Mischa Barton and obtained this movie after some research done on the Net. First off, let me just say that the creators of THE O.C. were most definitely influenced by this. Mischa Barton in a gated community, rich girl + poor boy, and, just like at the end of this movie, at the end of THE O.C. #2 there is this shooting incident.

It's also the third movie I've watched recently featuring lawnmower guys and their relationships with rich girls - the other two being CAN'T BUY ME LOVE and SUMMER CATCH. But that's just a coincidence. My first observation is very interesting. Wonder if Josh Schwarz would admit to it?

As for the picture itself, great! Noticed that Mischa is forever just being Mischa, she is cute and the camera loves her, so film away, she hardly has to do much but remember her lines, and that she does. True feeling for the part is unfortunately not always evident, as is the case with THE O.C. But come on, here she was very, very young, she wasn't even allowed to see her own movie afterward due to the age restriction, and she couldn't have known what the part was really, really about. At times though, here, she is nevertheless just absolutely perfect, unbeatable, the best choice for the part. Other times she is just rambling through the lines.

Very worthwhile movie, though.

A storming film that no-one will ever notice, and more fool them..

[WilliamSG · 9/10 · 8 May 2002]

**Possible Spoilers**

For starters, "Lawn Dogs" is one of those movies that Hollywood could never produce. Good, I say. I look forward to all those films that haven't been tainted by Hollywood's monetary grip.

Firstly, I'd rather not write a review that details every scene. I prefer to not ruin the movie experience for those not fortunate enough to have seen it already. However, I'll still mention a few moments that set it apart from all others.

This movie is about prejudice and love, about close-mindedness and the power of friendship. When you watch the movie for the first time, you get the feeling of a community very much cut off from the world and reality. It has a very 'desert island feel' about it. There is actually so much discrimination in this movie as to be rather frightening in its true-to-life nature.

Sam Rockwell plays Trent in his finest performance on-screen to date. He was actually a superb choice for this movie, having the perfect 'look' for the part. He befriends 10 year old Devon (the astonishing Mischa Barton who should, in my opinion, have been Oscar nominated). Devon is innocent, sweet and trusting - who has yet to be corrupted or taught to discriminate against others of a lower status than her. Morton and Clare (Christopher McDonald and Kathleen Quinlan) brilliantly play her parents who attempt to pry Devon away from Trent throughout the course of the film, trying to make foul of any kindness he has shown her. This makes for painful, yet brilliantly viewable scenes of maliciousness.

There is of course the blatant moral nature of this movie. An obvious one is to look at oneself before judging others. One simple example of this is the scene with Quinlan in her back garden (which I won't spoil). Morton is so wrapped up in the affairs of his daughter and Trent that he fails to notice his own wife. The irony of this is so perfectly fitting and is not resolved by the end of the movie. Angie Harmon plays the user and abuser "girlfriend" very well which just furthers the point the director was trying to get across. Trent is used physically and emotionally in this movie and you can't help but pity his useless situation. Normally when one watches a movie (generally Hollywood movies) you can shout out 'but why didn't you do 'x'?!" In the case of "Lawn Dogs" you find yourself in the troubling position of not knowing what to tell Trent to do. The 'not knowing' makes for interesting viewing as the tale unfolds.

Many people have complained about the fairy-tale nature of the ending, but I see it as beautiful and fitting. This movie is not a fairy-tale. The ending is not wrapped up by any means. Who says the magic at the end of the movie actually happened? Perhaps Trent threw the various items out of his truck as a testament to how strong his friendship with Devon was? Perhaps he imagined the magic as a result of Devon's love? Perhaps, in this community of discriminators, the love from an innocent child took him away at speed from those who would hold him down.

I'll let you decide.

As the end credits roll, you don't receive the satisfaction that only Hollywood can give you when the good guy shoots the bad guy. You're given the satisfaction that friendship and love has won through, but not in the dramatic way only Hollywood can give you. What else really matters?

To sum up, "Lawn Dogs" is such a sparkling gem that didn't need Hollywood's money to buy it, and is all the better for that. A wonderful film I highly recommend. Watch it by yourself in a quiet room and let it envelop you.

(Apologies if some parts of the review didn't make sense - I'd rather leave the discovering part for when/if you actually watch the movie.)

Yaga yaga yaga...

[ThurstonHunger · 7/10 · 20 December 2004]

A strange and memorable film in its effort to poetically capture the hopelessness of class divisions in America. Sam Rockwell's Trent is doomed like his father, only with a dream of being alive rather than dead.

His leading lady, leads him on towards destruction in a less than innocent but somehow naive way. Miraculously, Trent is rescued deus ex towel and comb, and I'm not sure exactly who ends up playing the role of Baba Yaga. I think it is actually young Devin. Though Trent does bite the head off a gingerbread boy with near mythological relish early on.

Devin's character will be a touchstone for some. While I enjoy precocious youths in films and will allow them more leeway than most, I thought Devin here verged on painfully precocious. Irritating and inconsistent at times, but then disarmingly charming at other times.

Ultimately this is a film that serves up paradoxes...and while I may disagree somewhat with the assessment of classes in America, I agree with this film a lot more than the folks who would reject such an assessment out of hand. Or even out of chicken claw.

But they did get the seething cauldron of sexual confusion in the US pretty much down.

Strong acting across the board (even when parents were required to play television thin). Also compelling visuals prodded by references to the old Russian folktale (gate of bones emphasized nicely)...and contrasted with a manicured to death view of suburbia.

Ultimately the paradoxes I think are what charge this film, that and a reminder that a young girl can be touched by an older man...with a definition of touched that is not as degenerate as we've been conditioned to assume.

7/10

An unforgettable experience of magic!

[Chris-373 · 10/10 · 19 January 1999]

'Lawn Dogs' may well be the best movie to come out of America this decade. It's a film that lazily unravels itself, yet succeeds in impacting like a sledgehammer, and does so in such a perfect, unforced and magical way that the experience of viewing it leaves the movie goer completely fulfilled, perhaps like no other film ever has before it.

Even more intriguing is the difficulty one has at distinguishing exactly why it is that this film works so flawlessly and just how such a slow moving film can leave a person so thoroughly energized and rejuvenated.

Only a few movies of recent times have even come close to carrying off this irony- think 'Fargo' or better still, 'Love Serenade' (interestingly and perhaps not coincidentally also directed by an Australian).

Every single element of 'Lawn Dogs' is magical. From the direction, cinematography, music and fairytale infused storyline which deals with the universally important issues of friendship, self-identity, family, community and class divisions, to the powerhouse performances from the two lead performers and amazing supporting cast.

John Diugan has demonstrated with 'Lawn Dogs' that he is indeed a true alchemist of the film world that can mix and dabble with the elements to produce pure, solid gold.

Kentucky Bluegrass.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 2 May 2013]

This weird and improbable tale opens with a splendid overview of a newly built, upscale, gated community called Camelot, with over-sized houses miles and miles of sprinkled lawns, spotless curving streets, no trees, and a watchful guard packing a side arm. It's a phantasmagorically revolting panorama of modern life.

I watched it chiefly because I'd understood that Angie Harmon has a nude scene, and so she does, but it only lasts a second and she's on screen for less than five minutes.

But I was enthralled by the fey narrative that followed that bleak opening. The families are all bourgeois in their values as well as their life styles. But it's rather like "Blue Velvet" in that there are a horde of repugnant beetles and ants under all that Kentucky bluegrass that Sam Rockwell, the young and sweaty lawn man mows.

The story is told principally from the point of view of ten-year-old Mischa Barton. She's magnetic. She not the kind of stunning young beauty that arouses the pedophile in every normal man. I mean, she's not Brooke Shields. But she gives a wholly natural performance, despite the sometimes fairy tale dialog that the writers have stuck her with.

Barton befriends the modest, poor lawn man, Rockwell, for reasons that aren't immediately discernible. Rockwell looks the part of a poverty stricken working man. He wears sweaty clothes and lives in a tumble-down trailer somewhere in the woods. But the role he plays is constrained by his acting style. He slouches around like James Dean, and he's what some directors call, well, a "dung kicker actor," in that he seems so often to be staring down at his shoes, as if prodding a cow flop with the toe of his dirty boot. The growing bond between Rockwell and Barton is the essence of the plot and it doesn't quite clear the bar. Barton manages to convey the desperation behind her attraction, but Rockwell too often seems indifferent and even hostile. It's not entirely his fault. The script doesn't help. See "Sundays and Cybele" if you can, for an example of how to get this subtle kind of message across without weakening it.

The rest of the cast is adequate but stereotyped. Barton's immaculate father takes advantage of a chance to humiliate his gardener, and he's given to jumping to faddish conclusions. Kathleen Quinlan, a fine actress, is enclosed in the iron maiden role of nervous and hypocritical mother, who allows one of the local studs to gobble her up while she prepares a salad for the back yard barbecue. Two of the local studs appear periodically to ridicule Rockwell and do Quinlan when Dad isn't around. One of them owns a hostile Doberman that attacks Rockwell, who later beats to death for insufficient reasons. I'm not sure whether the canicide was intended to show that, like everyone else, Rockwell is imperfect, or whether it was a plot device to drive Barton and Rockwell away from one another for a while. At its climax, the film falls apart.

Barton is given to telling others the story of a witch, the imaginary Baba Yaga. She's not making it up. I don't know where a ten year old living on No Problem Drive in bone-dry Camelot Gardens got it, but it's an old Russian folk tale, complete with the magic comb and towel that saves the fleeing innocent victim. There are lots of versions and they're widespread throughout Europe and Asia. It's been written in Sanskrit, and it's one of the few tales that made the jump across the Siberian land bridge with the American Indians, if I remember correctly.

The writers have done some research, but the movie fails to cohere, despite some gripping scenes and despite the stellar performance of young Mischa Barton, who grew up to be ravishing and problem ridden. At that, though, its deliberate pace and thoughtful camera work and editing are a vast improvement over the parade of junk now coming out of a decadent Hollywood.

Why did this film get such great reviews????

[kevinmkraft-371-970996 · 2/10 · 9 July 2017]

I watched LAWN DOGS for the second time and was again puzzled that this film got such great reviews. Oh, the performances were fine. But the ill logic that permeates this piece, as demonstrated by the characters and situations, are entirely unforgivable. I felt my intelligence insulted until, twenty minutes before the ending, I turned it off. I just couldn't take it anymore.

Before elaborating on that, though, I found it disturbing that a ten year old girl was in the center of what was a very adult film.

Second, I thought the character of Devon was pretty, well, awful. Her behavior, her thoughtlessness, I found to be unlikable. Some things she did were entirely senseless.

Trent was equally problematic to me. His language (I'm no stranger to profanity, but most decent people try to curb it around impressionable kids). Still, I found him a bit more likable than Devon.

If unlikable characters make a film for you, then LAWN DOGS might b your cup of tea.

Now, to the ill logic. Trent, 20s, tells Devon, 10, to keep their friendship a secret...and then does everything, it seems, to broadcast it! Repeatedly!

At a key point in the story, he commits an act that would and will most assuredly get him in trouble and then, instead of doing the obvious thing to minimize trouble for himself, does just the thing to incriminate himself!

There is sooo much I could say about this film but I don't want to give away spoilers. Suffice it to say I found LAWN DOGS to be overrated and ill logical. It relies on evoking sympathy for two "misunderstood" protagonists but they are rendered in such a way that they come across as stupid and repugnant. That does not a good movie make. I wanted to like Devon and Trent. But I just couldn't. And that was a shame for a movie that has such a promising premise--a premise that, in fact, has been explored to better effect in other films.

Innocence triumphs over lawn fetishists

[Philby-3 · 20 June 1999]

"Lawn Dogs" is a most un-Hollywood-like American movie but that's not surprising; the director John Duigan is a British-born Australian ("The Year My Voice Broke", "Flirting") and the production companies seem to have been largely British. The satire is biting and the fairy tale elements are not sugar-coated. Ten year old Devon (Mischa Barton) has recently moved in with her parents to "Camelot Gardens", one of those new country housing developments favoured by rising executives with mercenary values and no taste, let alone any culture. This one happens to be outside Louisville, Kentucky, but similar places are to be found outside cities all over the US. These are the houses of the undeserving rich. Huge, barn-like houses are plonked in the middle of their treeless lots and surrounded by vast swaths of ever-growing luxuriant grass. After all, this is Bluegrass country.

The lawn dogs are the working class boys who are continuously employed to keep the grass down. They do not enjoy high status and must leave the premises after 5 pm. Devon, a highly imaginative kid who makes up fairy stories, becomes friendly with one of the dogs, Trent (Sam Rockwell), who is in his early 20s. She meets him when sent out by her mother to sell gingerbread for the Girl Scouts (called Rangers in the film). Trent at first tries to put her off, knowing full well what people might think, but Devon persists, and a warm but innocent relationship develops. Trent is a not over-bright but slightly rebellious dog and correctly sees in Devon a spirit like his own. Early in the film he holds up the traffic in an entertaining way while cooling off in the river after a hard day's mowing.

The residents of "Camelot Gardens" are all cardboard cut-out awful, Devon's parents especially. Life is so stultifying that most of them seem to be involved in illicit sex. A bored kid steals all the outside lamps and hurls them into the nearby Ohio river. Two teenagers (one of whom has been screwing Devon's mother and the other of whom has designs on Trent's body) put sugar into Trent's mower engine, destroying his livelihood in the mistaken belief he has taken a couple of their CDs. One girl is quite happy to use Trent as a convenient screw but draws the line at inviting him to her house. The postmen and security guy (an ex-cop) aren't so bad, at least from Trent's point of view. They recognise another working class stiff when they see one.

Naturally Trent and Devon are not going to be left alone, but Duigan gives us what is literally a fairy-tale ending, a bit of Kentucky magic realism to match "Bread and Chocolate". The real world is told to sod off, in fact.

I'm not sure the residents of Jefferson and Oldham Counties, who co-operated in the making of the film, will be too pleased with the portrayal of the "Camelot Gardens" residents. But the film isn't really about them. The relationship between Trent and Devon is more older brother - kid sister than anything else though there is an undercurrent of eroticism in Devon's curiosity about Trent's scars and her desire to reveal her own impressive scar from heart surgery. Their joint escapades are pretty innocent and the town's reaction to them completely out of all proportion.

Mischa Devon and Sam Rockwell give two well-rounded and well-connected performances. "Lawn Dogs" an offbeat, pleasantly paced film about friendship and the things that matter in life. Freedom, it says, is more important than financial security, and the one should never be confused with the other. At least if you're 22 or younger.

One of 98's very best

[E.J. · 10/10 · 26 January 1999]

Lawn Dogs left me breathless. Thank God that small, quality films like this one pop up every now and then. Two others that I'd recommend if you loved this film are "Eye of God", and "Little Boy Blue".

A Movie About Passing Judgment

[jzappa · 8/10 · 19 March 2007]

Sam Rockwell is one of those actors who, no matter what role he's playing, is totally natural. He's immediately likable. I've always been a big fan of his, and up until yesterday had never before seen Lawn Dogs, one of the earliest films wherein he has a bigger role. He's very quietly, calmly good in it, and even in the scenes where he's playing and goofing around with Mischa Barton and it seems awkward, he maintains a pure, natural presence.

Lawn Dogs says something important about the most generic slice of American life, the geometrically shaped and calculated life in the suburbs. The film doesn't unmask it. Cleverly, it maintains that quiet, perpetually sunny, middle-of-nowhere feeling of a classic subdivision, and then displays a sad and maddening scenario of misunderstanding in a closed-minded, insular neighborhood and the hauntingly realistic characters. There is a bit of animal violence in this movie, but it's played out in a tautly spare way that's just as frustrating as vain, judgmental people and matter of the rest of the film.

Lawn Dogs is a refreshing sort of film. The relationship between Rockwell and Barton is heartwarming and broadly, gently natural. It's good to experience a story that altruistically communicates the genuine existence and state of mind that is often questioned and often misunderstood.

The folklore of Baba Yaga well told

[rajdoctor · 7/10 · 12 August 2020]

Lawn Dog is about a newly moved family in a small up-market rich county town in a guarded - walled neighborhood Devon - a 10 year old girl is sent around to make friends by distributing cookies made at home Unlike the routine - Devon gets to know the poor lawn mower young lad Trent - staying in a vehicle trailer in a forest - and both of them forges an innocent love friendship But things turn ugly because of the unusual friendship and the unfolding of events

The story is written by Naomi Wallace and the movie is directed by an Australian director John Duigan (A Masters in Philosophy student)

This story is based on the Russian folklore of Baba Yaga

220px-Bilibin._Baba_Yaga.jpg

Baba Yaga is an ugly ferocious looking old women who flies around and descends on a forest in a hut. She may either hinder or may help those whom she encounters

The folklore of Baba Yaga is very famous in Eastern Europe and there are those who consider Baba Yaga as a helper or a villain or something obscure and ambiguous.

She is remarkably adored as a multi-faceted figure head There are many stories of Baba Yaga in local Eastern European and Southern Russian Literatures from a wild witch to an Old Angel - depending on the plot she takes the role the story teller wants her to take to take the story forward.

**** In Lawn Dogs - Devon is the 10 year old child who is a figurative representation of Baba Yaga.

The writer Naomi Wallace has brilliantly narrated the tale - by giving an unkind characterization of the child that is weird, quirky, lonesome, brave, stupid, yet likable

From the beginning The Director John Duigan has planted stories of biases across gender roles and rich-poor / educated - illiterate divide filled with underlined biases and prejudices.

There is also a deliberate effort to show sexual overtones in all characters around this 10 years old child Devon - who is a growing girl just on the verge of adolescence.

Due to which as an audience there is always this uneasy feeling about this relationship of this young girl with this older young man - they belong to different strata of the society - with nothing in common between them

They Devon and Trent become close friends.

This movie was controversial was because of several reasons It was banned in United Kingdom and USA - until the Director agreed to cut a few scenes

Sexual scenes, frontal nudity, brutal killing scene of a dog and above all this unusual relationship between Devon and Trent which was frowned and looked down upon by the UK and US audiences

But the relationship between Devon and Trent is pure and innocent. They are just very good friends.

The tempo of the movie is nice and builds up with events till it reaches a climax which - as predicted is detrimental to our hero Trent's survival and life.

That is the time the story takes a magical turn where Devon shows her power as a Baba Yaga witch.

The movie is nothing but a beautiful poignant fable - One more addition to the Baba Yaga Legend.story telling

I liked the movie a lot - especially because it showed pure true LOVE between two human being with totally contrasting - everything

I would go 7.5 out of 10 for this small marvel. Watch it.

After 20 years still a very good watch.

[emsfoleyart-1 · 9/10 · 27 August 2019]

A film of tenderness and human understanding, set against a cruel, vapid American suburban existence. This film is more metaphoric than literal. Anyone suggesting that a daily relationship between a ten year old girl and a young adult male is a real, acceptable occurrence misses the point, and the film's purpose, and the film maker's "weltanschauung". That said, what you do have here is a story about two displaced and misunderstood soul that find comfort and meaning, despite the harshness and rejection of soon to be millennial America. The moral just may be that if the false reality you're in is too unacceptable, make one of your own, even if it's unconventional. Just as long as it's genuine and authentic.

Good acting / confusing message

[willamanah · 6/10 · 7 April 2019]

I think my title says it all. I was intrigued, confused, entertained at times and cringing a lot. I was nervous for Rockwell's character the entire movie and for good reason. The sense of impending doom made me want to skip to the end. I think there are life lessons to be learned here, but I feel like i would have enjoyed it more if the lawn dog was a little more into self preservation. It's not his job to teach the broken robots in our society but he could have spoken up a little bit.

Thoroughly engaging modern fable

[baggins39 · 8/10 · 31 August 2001]

As I write, I'm desperately keeping my eyes peeled for a glimpse of Sam Rockwell's star on the rise. I've only recently had the privilege of witnessing this fine young actor in "Lawn Dogs" and "Box of Moonlight" and I was mightily impressed. Not unlike John Turturro, (with whom he stars in "Box of Moonlight"), who has reduced the art of acting to a pursuit seemingly as effortless as breathing, Rockwell exudes a calmness on screen and he simply becomes his character. This is a rare and true gift. Just as well then, that both the aforementioned movies are worthy of his talent. "Lawn Dogs" sees Rockwell play a disaffected loner, Trent, holed up in a dilapidated trailer in the woods and reduced to mowing the lawns and tending the trees of the ample grounds of an affluent neighbouring estate, constructed to all intents and purpose like a heavily fortified island, replete with twenty-four hour security. Recent arrivals to this whiter than white suburban oasis, are a married couple, played by the ever dependable Christopher MacDonald and Kathleen Quinlan, and their delicate, sickly daughter Devon, played with uncanny ability by newcomer Mischa Barton. From the outset, it appears that all is well with this ordered paradise, once the subjugated labourers are released with a flourish of crisp, clean legal tender back to the nether regions of society and the hatches are well and truly battened down for the onset of another peaceful night. Trent certainly appears to echo the sentiment, celebrating the release and the end of a day's hard graft with a naked plunge from a bridge into a nearby river. This one act alone serves to set his character's liberal, carefree and thus almost directly opposing nature in conflict with the inhabitants of the estate. He becomes an object of illicit desire for the young women and a source of competition for the young men, particularly for a pair of well-heeled types who tear around in a formidable sports/utility vehicle with a rather testy Doberman pinscher. Indeed Trent proves true to his potential as he frequently "entertains" one of the young ladies in his humble dwelling who appears more than drawn by his animal magnetism. This is but one of a number of clandestine meetings of the mind(and body), that belie the vapid exterior of the estate, an obvious microcosm of greater American suburbia. Out of this miasma comes a shining beacon. Devon is more than a closeted patient in a sickly-sweet homestead. We gradually become aware that even at a tender age, she is quite the most virtuous and intensely interesting member of the community. We learn that she has a serious heart condition and many operations behind her, not the least of which has resulted in an enormous scar which runs the length of her chest. The many traumas that one so young has been forced to endure cultivates an incredible imagination and sensitivity to her surroundings in Devon and she experiences the unseemly underbelly of her neighbourhood, matter of fact-ly, as she wanders about. Her father is a gormless conformist who fails to realise his wife is being serviced regularly by one of the young dudes. Devon also receives some wholly unwanted attention from the same source and we witness a long overdue break from this diseased palace when she happens upon the miserable Trent, who conversely, is gradually withdrawing further and further into a virtual prison, only venturing out to mow Devon's lawn once in a while. From this point the two quickly become inseparable. Devon is literally bursting at the seems with a youthful exuberance that appears to have been stifled for so long and is maturing rapidly into a young woman. She paints Trent's empty emotional canvas with vivid colours and he slowly blossoms, the child in him re-surfacing once again. It is immediately obvious that the age disparity renders such a relationship fraught with danger. Trent is careful to remain a figure of paternal seniority to Devon and the bond between them develops not unlike that of an orphaned child who is unexpectedly re-united with a benevolent father. Devon by the very nature of a young girl's relationship with her father in the formative stages sees Trent as parent, potential lover, friend. Writer Wallace handles the explosive subject matter well; The constitution of Trent and Devon's relationship is utterly wholesome. It is only from an external viewpoint that it might appear unhealthy and Director Duigan conjures up a few genuinely cringe inducing scenes as the viewer is struck by the inherent potential for disaster, namely when Trent admits to possessing a scar also on his chest as the result of a shotgun blast. A mutual examination that both he and Devon engage in almost reduces the viewer to the role of look-out, so desperate does one become to spirit them through the minefield. Both have become painfully disenfranchised from the careful nurturing of a strong familial bond; Devon is but a worrisome work in progress to her noisome parents and Trent has grown apart from his terminally ill father and world-weary mother, unable perhaps to ameliorate their suffering in his present incarnation. Devon and he desperately need each other at this stage in their existence and it's difficult not to wish them well. The denouement, then, is particularly admirable as it refuses to submit to glib sentimentality or unwarranted pathos. All we are left with is the complexity of their tryst and the repercussion of its fateful resolution.

intriguing

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 27 October 2020]

10-year-old Devon Stockard (Mischa Barton) lives in a 'safe' walled suburb of McMansions. She's the only child of Morton (Christopher McDonald) and Clare (Kathleen Quinlan). Morton is an arrogant politician and Clare is having an affair with neighborhood bully Brett. They're new to the enclave patrolled by security guard Nash (Bruce McGill). Devon had recovered from heart surgery and doesn't connect with kids her age. Instead, she befriends the lawn mower guy Trent (Sam Rockwell).

I can't believe that Trent is that dumb although he is written as a troubled young outcast. He should be played as a slightly mentally challenged person. He could have been shot by the cops in the head. That's the best option to make this more reasonable. Otherwise, Trent would throw Devon over his shoulder and carry her home that night. As for the surreal ending, it comes out of nowhere. They need to set it up better by incorporating Baba Yaga and a fantasy tone into the story. This is an intriguing movie with intriguing actors. The two leads are beyond charismatic. It does need to consider more carefully with the story and the subject matter.

Highly Recommended

[princy · 9/10 · 1 October 2000]

This is one of the best movies I have seen all year. There is an amazing blend of surrealism and realism that makes this movie work. The overuse of color and the picture perfect scenery used in creating Devon's neighborhood allows the audience to see the artificial world she lives in. This is offset very well by Devon's more realistic and down to earth life style.

I can continue to ramble on about how great this movie is, but really you must see it for yourself.

An outstanding success!

Great plot, cast & locations, but problematic execution

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 2 January 2020]

An athletic 21 year-old groundskeeper (Sam Rockwell) lives in a ramshackle trailer in the woods near a gated community and mows the lawns of its wealthy but morally bankrupt occupants. A perceptive 10 year-old girl (Mischa Barton) is drawn to his genuineness because she discerns the hypocrisy of her parents (Christopher McDonald & Kathleen Quinlan) and the fakeness of her new community. But can an unconventional friendship like this last in such a scenario? Bruce McGill plays the security guy at the complex.

"Lawn Dogs" (1997) is a drama with a satirical edge that has everything necessary for a great movie, but then fumbles a bit in execution. For instance, the key sequences where Trent (Rockwell) and Devon (Mischa) start to develop a friendship feel forced. The script needed tweaked with maybe some ad-libbing, but SOMETHING needed done to make these important scenes work better. As it is they're at best serviceable and at worst unconvincing.

If you can get past that serious flaw (and a couple cavils), there's a lot of good here, even a little greatness. One critic denounced the film on the grounds that it didn't know what its message was. Really? It has three main points and they come across loud and clear, but I'm not going to give 'em away and spoil it for viewers.

The movie runs 1 hour, 41 minutes, and was shot in Prospect, Kentucky, and the surrounding area (just northeast of Louisville, by the Ohio River).

GRADE: B-

What Exactly Was The Point?

[IcyRoses · 2/10 · 1 June 2010]

So, I just got done watching this unending movie, and was just wondering what was the point? Many pointless scenes just thrown together and make absolutely no sense. Sam Rockwell does a good job, but his unneeded accent got on my nerves. Little Mischa Barton is just as bad as a kid, she needed a good acting coach even then. And don't even get my started on the story...it's literally all over the place! If you like pointless movies about weird people, then this is for you. It has potential, but ruins it with the story and incredibly weird scenes. I mean, what's the deal with Angie Harmon in this? So we could see her naked? PLEASE! So, if all you "fans" could explain it to me, I'm here.