In Dog We Trust

Below, the trailer for MAX, which answers the question "How do you make a story about an Afghan War veteran recovering from severe PTSD even more wrenching and instantly sympathetic?" as follows: "Well, what if he's also a dog?"



Jesus.

I've got a well-acknowledged "thing" for dog movies, and between this and WHITE GOD it feels like someone in the movie business might actually be trying to kill me. Just the idea of this is so instantly rough I can almost forgive the trailer essentially giving away it's own third act (a soldier who knew Max's Marine owner shows up, he's a bad guy up to bad-guy stuff, Max and teams up with the kids to fight them) - it's likely a calculated move to let audiences know that it's not going to be wall-to-wall sad dog business. Oomph.

Seriously, though - this looks like the good version of a movie that get's pitched as a joke in some THE PLAYER-style satire of predictable Hollywood sentimentalism ("It's not sad enough! What if it's a sick dog instead?"). I'm onboard, but damn. And it's directed by Boaz Yakin, who did REMEMBER THE TITANS (I just made at least one person cry by typing that title - garaunteed) so you know he's really good at this shit.

MAX is due out June 26, opening as family-friendly counterprogramming against TED 2. I'll be spending the intervening months learning to steel myself into a sob-proof-state, since I'll likely have to see it at a press screening.