Dog Days (2018 film)
Dog Days is a 2018  American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Marino and written by Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama. It stars Eva Longoria, Nina Dobrev, Vanessa Hudgens, Lauren Lapkus, Thomas Lennon, Adam Pally, Ryan Hansen, Rob Corddry, Tone Bell, Jon Bass and Finn Wolfhard. The plot follows the intertwining lives of various dogs and their owners around Los Angeles.

The movie was released on August 8, 2018, by LD Entertainment, and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot
Los Angeles, California, is the main and heart-warming scenario where life and fate interconnect five different stories as well as their characters with their respective canine pets: Elizabeth is a famous newscaster of a morning TV show; after a disastrous interview with former basketball player Jimmy, Elizabeth's boss decides to contract Jimmy as co-host due to the high ratings of the interview. On another side of the city, Tara is a waiter of a coffee shop who passes her days talking with her shallow and dog-walker friend Daisy. Tara, who is crazy about the friendly but full of himself vet Dr. Mike, one day meets Garrett, the eccentric and shy owner of an animal care center who is unable to tell Tara that he loves her. Grace and Kurt are a married couple made nervous by the arrival of their first adoptive child, Amelia; they see that the child doesn't seem happy with her new home and her new parents. Dax is a teen in the body of adult, and leader of the aspiring rock band Frunk, who after a visit to his pregnant sister Ruth and her husband Greg, is forced to keep and care for Ruth's dog, despite the building where Dax lives not allowing dogs. Finally Walter, an aging and lonely widower, loses his pet when it escapes from his hand, receiving the unexpected help of a pizza delivery boy named Tyler to find it. As time moves on, things complicate for everyone: Elizabeth and Jimmy start to feel attracted to each other, making their work more difficult, especially after Elizabeth discovers that Jimmy has been hired for a more important job in another channel. Tara accepts Garrett’s offer to work as volunteer in his animal care center at the same time she starts to date Dr. Mike; meanwhile Garrett learns that the owner of the building has sold it and he'll lose the center. Amelia finds Walter's dog, which makes her happy, but Grace and Kurt fear that one day Amelia will lose her new friend if the owner appears; Dax is caring for Ruth's dog, although eventually it starts to put order in his life, even as it creates trouble to hide it from his neighbours. Walter decides use his formation as teacher to help Tyler with his academic studies, preparing exams for some Tyler's teachers as Kurt. Unaware for all the people including to her own, Tara's decision to organize a concert to get funds looking for save Garrett's animal care center will cause that all the stories collide between them, revealing as life, fate and dogs are more related than anyone can imagine.

Cast
 Eva Longoria as Grace
 Nina Dobrev as Elizabeth
 Elizabeth Caro as Amelia
 Vanessa Hudgens as Tara
 Lauren Lapkus as Daisy
 Thomas Lennon as Greg
 Adam Pally as Dax
 Ryan Hansen as Peter
 Tone Bell as Jimmy
 Jon Bass as Garrett 
 Finn Wolfhard as Tyler
 Ron Cephas Jones as Walter
 Jasmine Cephas Jones as Lola
 Jessica Lowe as Amy
 Jessica St. Clair as Ruth
 Michael Cassidy as Dr. Mike
 David Wain as Wacky Wayne
 Rob Corddry as Kurt
 Tig Notaro as Danielle
 John Gemberling as Ernie
 Toks Olagundoye as Nina
 Tony Cavalero as Stanley
 Brooke Bell as Liza

Production
In August 2017, it was announced Ken Marino would direct the film, from a screenplay by Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama, with Mickey Liddell, Jennifer Monroe and Pete Shilaimon producing under their LD Entertainment banner. In September 2017, Finn Wolfhard, Vanessa Hudgens, Tone Bell, Adam Pally, Eva Longoria, and Jon Bass joined the cast of the film. In October 2017, Tig Notaro, Rob Corddry, Michael Cassidy, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ron Cephas Jones, John Gemberling, Ryan Hansen, Thomas Lennon, Lauren Lapkus, Jessica Lowe, Toks Olagundoye, Jessica St. Clair and David Wain joined the cast of the film.

Filming
Principal photography began in October 2017, in Los Angeles, California.

Release
The film was released on August 8, 2018 by LD Entertainment.

Reception

Box office
In the United States and Canada, Dog Days was projected to gross $5–9 million from 2,442 theaters over its five-day opening weekend. The film made $635,164 on its opening day, a Wednesday, and another $405,000 on its second for a two-day total of $1 million. It went on to have an opening weekend of $2.6 million, for a five-day debut of just $3.6 million. In its second weekend of release, the film was removed from 55 theaters across the country, dropping 66% and grossing $868,664.

Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 65 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dog Days is frivolous but frothy, sporting a forgettable cast of human characters but a lovable troupe of pooches that ought to delight viewers looking for a gentle affirmation of humanity's bond with their furry friends". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.