This touching, well-rounded comedy centres on the lonely, single Peggy, an office assistant who's obsessively attached to her beagle, Pencil. When Pencil meets an untimely end, the guilt-wracked Peggy is left to find something to fill the void in her life. In a uniquely mismatched love interest, her increasing affinity for animals dooms her relationship with next-door neighbour and gun-nut Al. So she goes to the dogs, literally and figuratively.Filmmaker Mike White, who boasts a long comedic pedigree as a screenwriter with such films as The School of Rock and Chuck & Buck, makes his directing debut with Year of the Dog. Here, he successfully serves up both the warmth and the ironic undertones of his previous work. An audience favourite at Sundance Film Festival.