Based on the book of the same name by Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain follows aspiring Formula 1 race car driver Denny Swift (Ventimiglia) and his Labrador Enzo (voiced by Kevin Costner) as they together navigate their way through the hardships of life. Costner narrates the film from beginning to end as the narrative is primarily told through Enzo's perspective. Although it was indeed a smart move by the filmmakers to have the lovable Lab at the forefront of the film, that's all this run of the mill tearjerker has going for it. Spanning the course of their many years together, there are several instances in which the narrative moves far too quickly. Much of the first act relies heavily on exposition overload and there is a heavy abundance of telling rather than showing. Given the fact that the film moves at such a fast pace, there isn't much time at all for the characters to be well developed. They feel painfully one dimensional and I never once felt an emotional connection to any of them. Bomback's screenplay is an absolute mess and suffers heavily from a case of not knowing exactly what kind of story it wants to tell. What the film feels like is a sequence of events that may work perfectly fine in isolation, but when pieced together the end result is a rushed narrative with dull, undeveloped characters and plotlines that have been executed far more efficiently in better films. Ventimiglia and Seyfried are serviceable enough, but Costner is the real star here. He narrates wonderfully and were it not for him, my assessment of this film may have been a little harsher. Still, The Art of Racing in the Rain offers nothing new at all, and while I've no doubt that the book may in fact be brilliant, this film adaptation is a forgettable affair that packs one of the silliest endings I've ever seen in a film. But hey, at least the Labrador is adorable.
Review of The Art of Racing in the Rain
