The Art of Racing in the Rain Run Time
Kevin Costner growls out philosophical homilies in this treacly melodrama about a dog instruction his principal how to love.
I spent most of The Art of Racing in the Rain thinking of 1 of my favorite Roger Ebert lines. In his review of Marie Antoinette, he said, "[… N]o one always lives as And then; it is always Now." But aside from thinking of Ebert and Sofia Coppola during a film where Kevin Costner voices a dog, this quote even so happened to find a parallel by its terminate. "The best drivers don't dwell on the future or the past," this gilt retriever tells u.s.. "They focus on the present." It plays like information technology'due south intended equally some sort of lesson, but in this instance, it'southward an unintentional autocritique.
For near all of its 109 minutes, Rain is indebted to Then. Better yet, it tin can't function without So, because all of its story exists in a predetermination that weakens its well-nigh basic conflict. After a quick outset en media res, this pup walks united states through his life starting when racecar driver Denny (Milo Ventimiglia) named him Enzo. Then come his philosophical voiceovers—tons of them. Non only does this scaffolding forbid the viewer from getting close to the action onscreen, but information technology feels like what might happen if Lars von Trier tried to write a Authentication movie.
Some interlocutions explain the film's championship while some milk its droller attempts at humor. Most of them check all the boxes you lot'd expect, though, taking stretches to introduce Denny's inevitable highs and lows. That, of course, requires a love interest. That interest is Eve (Amanda Seyfried), a schoolteacher whom Enzo… ogles from backside? (Yep, actually.) When she says yes to a date with Denny, it just feels piece of cake. Since the pacing is then inconsistent, it's hard to tell just how odd it is that, in the motion picture's runtime, they end up married 5 minutes subsequently.
That, of grade, brings in a daughter, Zoe (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), and due to Denny's bad boy nature, disapproval from Eve'south parents. But like the myopic sight of its narrator, Rain can never put enough focus on one person or conflicts that unfold. As Marking Bomback's script tries to lean into melodrama and break the story into a variety of directions, he quickly shows himself every bit in over his caput. Instead, it's Enzo'southward narration that puts Scotch tape over Rain, trying to mask how slapdash its construction actually is.
In actuality, Rain doesn't intendance for its characters, no matter how much it pretends to. Denny, for ane, has about every bit much personality as your fall 2004 Abercrombie catalogue while Eve functions as a plot device (and the umpteenth waste of Seyfried's talents). She's a vessel for pain and an excuse for growth. But none of information technology matters every bit Enzo'due south constant monologues go along all consequences out of accomplish. We may hear about what happens in Denny'southward life and we may even encounter bits of it, simply at the finish of it all, we're really just hearing it secondhand. From a dog.
Rain doesn't care for its characters, no matter how much it pretends to.
If naught else, Rain is mostly consistent in tone and themes (aside from its skittish attempts at inappropriate humour, that is). While this would be a positive in most circumstances, hither's it's more than of a stray ascertainment; Simon Curtis's management feels well-nigh vetted in lacking any real vocalization, as if to slide out of the studio tract as something to swallow and digest. It'due south nearly 25 minutes likewise long, but I'd be lying if I said Costner'southward gravelly voice didn't give a bit of personality to what's otherwise a slog.
Maybe The Art of Racing in the Rain works better as a book. But I, equally someone who'd never heard of Garth Stein's 2008 novel, sat in the theater distracted by how this moving picture spends its showtime half-hour communicable audiences up to the nowadays. Then the 35-minute marking came, then forty-minute mark, then the 60 minutes. It wasn't just that I gave up keeping track of this point; it's that I realized while this story could have functioned in the Now, it rarely tries to.
The Fine art of Racing in the Rain Trailer:
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