Puppy Love. M, 106 minutes, Prime Video. Three stars
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There is nothing about this movie that should be good when you learn what it's about.
Springing from five (five!) writers - one of whom penned Meet the Parents - and two directors, Puppy Love has one of the more illogical romantic-comedy plots of recent years, and that's really saying something.
Socially-reclusive Max (Grant Gustin, best known as the Arrowverse's Barry 'The Flash' Allen) meets emotionally-closed off party girl Nicole (Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars) for a date after they both become new dog owners and add their respective fur-children to their dating profiles.
The doggy date is a disaster and ends with Max literally throwing up, but the short park outing leads to Max's rescue pooch Chloe becoming pregnant.
After (and this is the most insultingly ridiculous part of the entire film that may be best to just fast-forward through) having Chloe pee on a human pregnancy test in a pharmacy bathroom, Max and his best friend/boss Sid (Nore Davis) attempt to secure the Plan B pill to take care of the puppy situation. It's mind-boggling that five writers and two directors - not to mention the countless studio heads, producers and test audiences that would have seen the film - all saw and/or crafter this scene and thought, 'yep, that's a great idea, no need to eliminate that from human memory'.
Meanwhile Nicole is being threatened with eviction as her apartment lease stipulates she can't keep pets.
The solution to both the puppy and eviction problem, in classic movie logic, is to have both Nicole and her dog Channing Tatum (she names him that because he looks handsome) move in with Max until the litter arrives 40 or so days later. The dogs have formed a strong bond after spending half an hour together at the park, naturally, so their humans have to put aside their differences for the impending puppies, as it's important, they learn, that Chloe has a stress-free pregnancy.
All this should result in a movie that is so awful you'd rather gouge your eyes out than finish it. But, against all odds and sense, somehow Puppy Love is actually sweet and charming. This can primarily be attributed to Gustin and Hale who have a genuine chemistry and fully commit to the story.
Max's struggles with social anxiety and his need to control his environment, making his home his 'sanctuary', really rings true, especially in a post-COVID era. He prefers environments where there's less likelihood of chaos and spontaneity, preferring to perfectly plan and structure his life. Nicole is the opposite, and Hale brings a free-spirited openness to the portrayal, while still making her seem like she's a real person.
The supporting characters around Max and Nicole are another story entirely - Sid feels like he belongs in 2005 with his negging dating advice, Nicole's house staging client Hunter is just ridiculous, and the vet feels like a character cut from an episode of The Nanny for being too over-the-top. Not to mention that Dr Quinn Medicine Woman herself Jane Seymour plays Nicole's mother in all of two scenes.
A second act heartstring-tugger manages to work, in a surprise to all, and that, paired with the charming leads and a blooper reel in the credits, actually make Puppy Love and confoundingly enjoyable watch on the whole.
