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December 24, 2005

The romantic comedy – what can you say? The genre has been around for centuries. Shakespeare may have popularized the concept but it goes back even further than that. Somehow, though, we’re still not tired of them. That’s not to say Hollywood puts out winners every time, but occasionally someone mixes enough spice into the run-of-the-mill recipe and we’re offered something that women can revel in and men can pretend to tolerate while secretly enjoying.

The Movie:

Must Love Dogs is hardly an example of a fantastic romantic comedy but it yields enough charm and originality to be ranked slightly higher than “just another Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie”. The story is as familiar as Grandma’s homemade pancakes. Sarah (Diane Lane) and Jake (John Cusack) are a pair of divorcees too nervous and distraught to re-enter the dating rat race. Friends and family neglect their own interpersonal problems by interfering with Jake and Sarah’s. The weapon of choice: the internet.

Only slightly more innovative than the AOL chat rooms touted in You’ve Got Mail, the story revolves around internet dating websites, the kinds that are more heavily advertised online these days than free I-pods and discount Viagra. After the traditional shaky first meeting, Sarah and Jake run the gambit of relationship barriers in full blown rom-com decathlon style. No, there’s really nothing particularly special or original about these two characters or their situation. Instead, the movie chooses to bestow its creative impulses on the supporting cast. The result is a story full of the usual scenarios but none of the usual suspects.

The role of the woman’s supportive best friend has been replaced by an entire family. Sarah’s clan is on a mission to see their beloved sister/daughter back in a happy relationship. Though heartfelt, the familial advice often goes astray creating copious opportunities for Sarah’s efforts to blow up in her face. Jake is the one with the best friend this time around, but his buddy isn’t much help either. Like the typical guy he could care less whether Jake is actually happy so long as there’s some action going on. What with this being the 21st century and all, it would hardly be politic to have a heterosexual romantic comedy without a token gay character. Enter Sarah’s portly, good natured friend and co-worker whose interactions with his hunky, sensitive boyfriend are Sarah’s model for a successful relationship. My dear, there’s your problem: your perfect man is playing for the wrong team.

Just as colorful as the characters are the actors playing the roles. Christopher Plummer dons his best Irish accent and digs in deep as Bill, Sarah’s free-spirited yet nurturing widower father. I understood exactly why he was given the role when half-way through the film his character was called upon to recite an entire passage of Yeats’ poetry. After all, this is the guy who managed to pull of playing a Klingon who quotes Shakespeare. Stockard Channing adds bite to Plummer’s considerable presence as the leading contender in his modest but ever-growing harem of golden girlfriends. Too bad the only song they give her to sing is the theme song from the Partridge Family.

As for the leading man and lady, they’re a great couple in the making, but there’s little chemistry there to bind them together in the end. Cusack’s brilliant sense for self-deprecating humor and Lane’s classic wit and sarcasm mingle perfectly for all those early relationship bantering sessions but when the two finally get together and all the emotional barriers come crumbling down, so does the movie’s magic. It can’t be a good sign when you’re rooting for the lovers not to get together because you don’t want the fun to stop. Instead of coming away from the movie with a warm heart, I found myself not really caring that true love was found, rather how much fun it was watching the suffering that went into finding it.

The Disc:

As DVD releases go, Must Love Dogs is flat-out disappointing. Almost everything on the bonus material roster is more like a teaser for an extra. If you’re going to put in bonus items, whether they be few or many, for crying out loud please try and do them right.

I’m convinced that for every ten minutes of movie time there’s a solid minute of gag reel footage out there waiting to be enjoyed. Is it really so hard for a director or producer to pick them out and hand them to some editing intern to be strung together with a clever bit of soundtrack? Apparently so, since all we get from the set on this project are two outtakes involving Elizabeth Perkins and a piece of frozen meat. Take one: Elizabeth accidentally hits Diane in the head with meat. Take two: Elizabeth accidentally hits John in the groin with meat. End gag reel and any additional interest I had in the bonus menu.

Three deleted scenes, which really amount to three extended scenes, felt like the kind of stuff trimmed out to save time and keep Christopher Plummer from completely outshining the rest of the cast. Director David Goldberg actually provides a little bit of commentary for these deleted tidbits. That raises the question: was the guy too lazy to make a commentary for the whole movie? Not only did he direct it, he adapted the screenplay from a novel. You think the guy would have a word or two to share but no such luck.

The third and final bonus item is the original theatrical trailer. As great as it is to see trailers included, they’re the least a DVD producer can include so it’s not much of a consolation. Perhaps the movie suggests one must love dogs, but there’s nothing says you must love the disc. It’s great for seeing the movie itself but that’s about it. A note for Mr. Goldberg: next time hire some film school lackey to wander around the production with a video camera and treat us to some behind-the-scenes action. I hear Stockard Channing will sing “Sandra Dee” with anyone willing to sing along.

Stockard Channing will be doing double duty this autumn as she nips back and forth between studios.

She and Henry Winkler will be launching their new CBS comedy series, Out Of Practice, which deals with a distinctly dysfunctional family of doctors. And Channing has some unfinished business over at The West Wing, where she has portrayed First Lady Abby Bartlet for several seasons.

"Well, you know, Abby's husband is leaving office," the 61-year-old Channing says, laughing. But until we find out whether Jimmy Smits or Alan Alda is going to take over as President, Martin Sheen is still in charge of the White House in the role of President Bartlet and Abby is still attempting to take charge of him.

"I owe them three more episodes, so I will be network-hopping a little bit," she says. "And then that will be it."

Channing, who's also in view this summer as an ageing flower child in Must Love Dogs, is sorry her relationship with The West Wing is coming to an end, but she's excited about Out Of Practice.

She plays a prominent surgeon -- or as Channing jokingly describes her: "a neurotic, very intense, bright, brilliant, funny, attractive cardiologist" -- in the new series, which will air on Sunday evenings Winkler is her former husband -- "an underachieving gastroenterologist."

Other family members include "a lesbian emergency room doctor" and ER junkie (Paula Marshall) and "a kind of oversexed but not very lucky-in-love plastic surgeon" (Ty Burrell).

Channing tends to be cynical about the fickle nature of audiences and the ratings system. So she will make no predictions about how Out Of Practice will do, despite the fact it's the work of the same creative team that made Frasier such a huge hit.

"I have no expectations at all, apart from saying that the pilot which we shot was immensely well-received and we had a great time doing it. So we shall see. I have no idea what they're going to do with us all."

The Tony Award-winning Broadway actor says the only downside to having another television hit would be that it would keep her away from her first love, the stage.

In the meantime, she does feel good about her summer movie, Must Love Dogs, and her role as a lovable eccentric who captures Christopher Plummer's heart.

Channing was brought into this project on short notice after another actor dropped out, and it was she who successfully took the character in a different direction from what was originally intended.

"I thought her time was the 1970s," Channing says, so that meant jeans and lots of jewellery -- "great jewellery she had on."

"She lives in California, so I basically made up this kind of beach person who was eccentric and edgier than originally written."

Channing didn't change a line in the script -- just the vibes she throws out, including her character's sexuality. She didn't want to be involved in a typical geriatric romance.

"Chris is so great and attractive -- that's not like we should be, two old fogeys. She shouldn't be looking like someone else's granny."

Must Love Dogs offers a new spin on the dating game -- in this case, computer matches. But the outspoken Channing says the whole concept of dating is alien to her.

"I don't date. Never did. I don't like it. Don't understand it. It's artificial. It doesn't seem sexy. It doesn't seem anything.

"I think it's the worst thing ever invented. I don't understand where on Earth the concept of dating came from."

As for computerized dating -- well, it seems Channing is even suspicious of computers.

"I got my first computer in December. It takes up too much time. I find it time-consuming and annoying. I use it for e-mails occasionally, but if I try to do research on something, it's too non-specific."

It's been a few moons since Stockard Channing played Rizzo in "Grease" (1978), but as she proves with her role in "Must love Dogs", the acclaimed actress has - still got it.

What did you like about playing your character, Dolly?
I think just being able to kiss Christopher Plummer. (laughs). I mean it’s obvious she’s sort of out there, so it was nice. I just thought she was sort of wild and interesting.

Are you consciously looking for comedic roles because you have a sitcom coming up too?
That was another thing. Abigail [from West Wing] has her witty moments but I think basically the whole show is not exactly a side-splitter. So when the sitcom came I just looked at that so that’s I guess where it came from.

How did they pitch this character to you?
Well, I mean she’s of a certain biological age but she didn’t have to go around with fat patches and stuff. I think that’s the phenomenon of our time is that a lot of women keep themselves in good shape but that there’s not a lot of accommodation or people out there to connect with and the technology. I thought that was funny that whole thing. And then that kid, I thought that was just great.

How do you keep in great shape?
I work out a lot like everyone else. But I was not left with an athletic, lean body so I need to workout a lot.

What do you think about online dating? Have you ever done it before?
No, I’ve never done it. I can barely even run a computer. God knows what I’d get on online dating. I’d get something that was subhuman or something. I have no idea how it really works. I just thought it was kind of funny that this day in age this kind of thing could actually happen.

As an actress, you character was playing roles in her own life. Is that something you could relate to?
I never really thought of that. I just thought she was funny. Really, I just thought this was funny, sort of sweet, touching and human.

What advice would you give girls who are dating?
You’re talking to someone who has been married to various people for the last 40 years of her life. Dating is not really something familiar. I’ve never really been a dater.

Does it surprise you to learn about how dating is going on now?
It’s terrifying. I couldn’t do it at all. I was never really good at it, but I can’t imagine what it can be like as a fortunate person not having to deal with it. I mean, people of all ages, not just my age, 25, 35, all the way down the line. You guys tell me, I don’t know.

Then, what tips do you have to keep a man?
I don’t know. Someone said to me you’ve got to have a short memory. When it doubt, forget and keep on going. There’s a bit of that involve, which isn’t a really stylish thing to say. But I do think it’s a lot about a give and take.

Grease has become some a staple film from one generation to the next, did you ever think it was going to become this big?
I actually had a feeling it was going to be a successful movie because it was, I just had a feeling but I had no idea. No one had an idea of how successful it would be because the technology wasn’t in play. And it’s really the technology. The VCRs and now the DVD that made it. It just keeps impacting geometrically into the zeitgeist and then it goes off to generations and generations. These things have a life of there own and never existed when I was growing up certainly worrying when one would get made. It’s kind of amazing how that one movie kept living through all these years. Yeah, I mean it’s funny how movies that were made in the late 70s you can see on DVD or VCRs. But the fact that [Grease] caught on I can’t tell you why. But it certainly has.

What about West Wing… will your character be coming back?
I have a commitment to them for 3 episodes. It’s funny, I had dinner with my dear friend John Spencer last night and I’m not in the first episode, but he’s at the beginning of it and he was telling me about it and I thought this sounds very hot because I think this is definitely the last year of West Wing. And I think it’s sort of great that they can say that because I think people will start watching again. And they can do whatever they want because they don’t have to wait around for the acts to fall or whatever and having that natural end to it I think will only help the series.

Will you be sad at all when that chapter comes to close?
Oh sure, we all were. I think the end of last year when we were aware of that transition was for everyone in their own way kind of bittersweet, but it’s also what the show’s about, one administration ends and another begins. That’s the nature of the reality of the office. Now I think they’re going to examine the implications of that in terms of the characters. But I’ve always been slightly tangential to the series anyway, I mean not out of my choice, but just the way my character works, etc… I can’t imagine what’s it’s like for someone showing up every day for the past 6 years.

Do you want to talk about acting with Diane and Christopher?
I’ve adored Chris Plummer for ages, and I seen him in New York over they years but I’ve never worked with him before. But I’ve had this tremendous crush on him since Daisy Clover. You ever see that movie? He’s so hot in it. Don’t ever think I’d dare tell him. So that was easy. There was a tremendous amount of ease. Diane is fantastic. And Elizabeth and I are friends. And Dermot I’ve known for years, we made a movie something like 18 years ago. So it was very very easy, happy set for everybody, which doesn’t have to necessarily do with the end result but that was the atmosphere on set.

What about Gary’s contribution, what he brings to a romantic comedy?
I think that he brings his own comedic background and also the role of television in that you have to be a realist. He would do adjustments or rewrites and I think he kept a lot of it in his head to a certain degree. Also, don’t forget there’s a huge cast in this movie and I’m not that familiar with the whole just the bits that I was in, and I was literally in the Warner Brother’s lot doing Dolly and then go across the thing and get into my zipped up suit, put on another wig and suddenly I was first lady. So for me that was kind of my focus on trying to get that right. I wasn’t around for the whole movie, so I’m not really an expert on how Gary rated.

You have a couple of films in the can…
I have a Canadian independent movie called “3 Needles”. It’s directed by Thom Fitzgerald and Lucy Lui, Chloe Sevigny and I are in three stories. We never interact. But since the title is “3 Needles”, it is about a bit of international drug calamity should we say. I’m a French Canadian waitress mother… the stories are so brief that if I tell you who I am, I tell you about the movie. Lucy Lui is a Chinese worker and Chloe Sevigny is a Montreal girl who becomes a nun and works in Africa. It’s a lot about the corruption of the drug trade.

What about “Red Mercury”?
That kind of mirrors what happened in London [a few weeks ago]. Potentially a hostage situation and a bomb threat by three guys who were raised in England of Pakistani decent and so I was thinking about that…. That wouldn’t be taken lightly. It was extraordinary that we were making it once and never dreamed that such a thing would actually happen.

You have three movies in the can, a sitcom about to start, you have the West Wing… do you enjoy working on two or three things all at once?
I like it obviously. I mean I do like it. It’s sort of what I do. People always make comments like, “You work all the time”. First of all, I wish they wouldn’t have to make that comment because I wish it wasn’t so unusual for people be working all the time. And some of the stuff is crap and some of it is great. Our beginnings do not know our end. SO basically you show up, do the best job you can and you try to work with the people you’re working with… I think that’s my life, my little creative endeavor. It’s not business, it’s not necessarily calculated… I’m ironically doing what I want to do even though at the beginning I was launched into you should be this kind of person and then I had a follow up in my first television series and I was going to be the next Mary Tyler Moore but nobody asked me what I wanted to do. It would be interesting if this sitcom works, so I could be doing one thing all the time instead of going back and forth between all this different media which I sort of thrive on, I’m a bit of a moving target in that way.

MUST LOVE DOGS is now showing

Must Love Dogs dug up $12.9 million at 2,505 locations, a decent start for the less-than-$30 million romantic comedy. Females comprised 70 percent of the audience, according to distributor Warner Bros.' polling, but the CinemaScore rating was a "B+," dragged down by the few males in attendance as women gave it an "A."

Hollywood usually skips summer romance, but sometimes that rare fling clicks, like The Notebook last year or My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002. That was Warner Bros.' strategy with Must Love Dogs. "It's good counter-programming," said the studio's head of distribution, Dan Fellman.

I don't have time to blog reviews for this movie, but this is from Box Office Mojo. Critics' reviews were mixed but with plenty of excellent comments about the cast and Christopher Plummer. There are also plenty of positive viewer comments at IMDB and Yahoo. See Links for reviews.

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MUST LOVE DOGS
U.S. Release Date: July 29, 2005
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Cast: Diane Lane, John Cusack
Running Time: 1 hour and 38 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sexual content)

Writer and director Gary David Goldberg's offbeat dating comedy, Must Love Dogs, is intended purely as a little romance for a few good laughs. After going over several bumps, and this schmaltzy concern, based on a novel by Claire Cook, is not the sort of movie to pick at, Goldberg (he created NBC's sitcom Family Ties) comes through with good entertainment.

It's not without problems, so let's get those out of the way, starting with John Cusack's off-putting boat builder, who stews in his own melancholy, watching David Lean's Doctor Zhivago over and over to repeat the sense of romance he seeks after losing his wife in a divorce. This guy's more than a few bricks shy of a load, and the idea is that he associates love with heartache but it doesn't quite work (and Cusack's a bit long in the tooth to be replaying his Say Anything role). Worse: his best friend (Ben Shenkman) is the scum of the earth and it undercuts Cusack's character. Other complaints include a plot with more holes than a Wiffle ball.

But Must Love Dogs is mainly the story of Diane Lane's divorced pre-school teacher, whose Irish Catholic family suffocates her with the notion that she's meant to love again. On this charming pretext, the movie almost elevates Lane above the lusty roles she's been playing lately. Her family is too big—nervy Elizabeth Perkins' meddling sister and a brother or two would have sufficed instead of this large a litter—but it serves its purpose. They show up one day, led by their widowed father, Christopher Plummer—one of Hollywood's best and hottest actors—determined to get sis back in the game of life and love.

Mr. Plummer, whose distinguished career includes performances as Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King and Aristotle in Alexander, forms the movie's moral center, romancing Stockard Channing (Grease) in her big hair and bangles, reciting Yeats and Browning and making everything sound magnificent even when it isn't. For all his frustrating old father shenanigans, he's on hand to represent love's triumph.

Not that daughter isn't trying hard, and Must Love Dogs gives modern dating the full, Internet age treatment, with Lane dating some real doozies. As she goes from spaghetti straps and perms to all-black and hair-tight bun, she finally comes to a fork in the road between intense Cusack—an idealist who builds custom, wooden boats to perfection—and Dermot Mulroney's scholarly stud, whom she meets at school when his son (Bobby Coleman and can this cute kid act) gets a nosebleed.

Mulroney's too good to be true, Lane's too hot to trot and Cusack's too much baggage to carry, but the whole thing gets deeper under the skin than one might have guessed. The theme that falling head over heels requires accepting what's real isn't particularly profound, but it produces a bittersweet, surprisingly surprising—and totally contrived—conclusion that shakes off the silliness, means it and makes you want to hold hands. Brad William Henke, Julie Gonzalo and lightning bug Jordana Spiro as Sherry—who's practically an entire generation by herself—add sparks to the supporting cast.

Anyone who has loved or dated, and hated doing either, especially while sitting in front of a computer, probably understands Lane and everyone else here (including the marrieds) and some of the writing really socks a punch. Must Love Dogs has its dogs, too, and it leaves a few doggy piles, but it plays like a sweet, if clumsy, limerick to love.

Dating has never been easy. The time-honored search for a soul mate has always been one part humiliation, two parts aggravation, and a little blind luck thrown in for the fortunate.

Today's version of the game can be a blur of websites, speed lunches and hordes of friends and relatives who know just the "right" person for you.

Thirty-something preschool teacher Sarah Nolan (DIANE LANE) has been divorced for eight months, which is much too long for her family to bear. With the best of intentions and only her happiness in mind, they stage an intervention in an all-out effort to get her out of pajamas and back into the dating scene, one way or another. Leading the charge are Sarah's sisters, Carol (ELIZABETH PERKINS) and Christine (ALI HILLIS), eager to line up potential suitors, and their widowed father Bill (CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER), who sets a fine example with his own recent and very successful foray into the internet dating realm. Bill has lately been seeing the free-spirited Dolly (STOCKARD CHANNING), whom he met online, along with a number of other ladies whose names his daughters can't quite keep track of.

Eager to launch their sister's own cyber-dating debut, Carol and Christine pretend to be Sarah and post her profile on perfectmatch.com, with the enticing message, "Voluptuous, sensuous, alluring and fun. DWF seeks special man to share starlit nights. Must love dogs." And wait for the responses to pour in.

Sarah soon endures a series of hilariously disastrous mismatches and first dates as the website offers up a stream of eager wannabes and one possible maybe - awkward but intriguing boat builder Jake Anderson (JOHN CUSACK), an idealist who measures romance by a Dr. Zhivago standard. A little on the intense side, Jake might be looking for more than Sarah wants right now. Meanwhile, at work, there's a new distraction - Bob Connor (DERMOT MULRONEY), the newly separated dad of one of her young students. Charming and relaxed, Bob seems made to order, the perfect guy…but is he just too good to be true?

Based on the best-selling book by Claire Cook, and written and directed by two-time Emmy Award winner Gary David Goldberg, Must Love Dogs follows the comic, bumpy and ultimately rewarding journey of a woman cautiously rediscovering romance and learning to trust her own instincts again. Because, as her family enthusiastically reminds her, it's never a good idea to give up on love.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents an UBU / Team Todd Production: Diane Lane and John Cusack star in Must Love Dogs, also starring Dermot Mulroney, Elizabeth Perkins, with Stockard Channing and Christopher Plummer. Must Love Dogs is directed by Gary David Goldberg and produced by Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd and Gary David Goldberg from a screenplay by Gary David Goldberg, based on the novel by Claire Cook. Brad Hall and Ronald G. Smith are executive producers. Director of photography is John Bailey, A.S.C.; production designer, Naomi Shohan; and editors, Eric Sears, A.C.E., and Roger Bondelli, A.C.E... Music is by Craig Armstrong.

Must Love Dogs will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. Soundtrack album on EPIC/SONY MUSIC SOUNDTRAX. This film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for "sexual content." -- © Warner Bros.

PRODUCTION NOTES

"A beautiful girl like you can't just give up, Sarah. There's life after divorce, you know."

"We wanted to explore one woman's search for love in an increasingly frantic world," says Gary David Goldberg, who directs the romantic comedy Must Love Dogs from his own screenplay, based on the best-selling Claire Cook novel, and shares producing duty with Suzanne and Jennifer Todd. "Sarah Nolan is a woman whose life didn't turn out exactly as she expected. Now she's in transition. She has to summon up the courage to get out there and try again, and the world is not as hospitable or forgiving as it should be. It's an uncomfortable and often very funny place to be, rich with human predicaments we can all relate to."

No stranger to the human predicament, Goldberg's career is distinguished by entertainment that addresses themes of family, romance, growing up, breaking up and starting over - and always with a healthy dose of laughter. A writer on The Bob Newhart Show, Alice and M*A*S*H, and writer/producer on Lou Grant, Goldberg went on to create Family Ties and Spin City, earning his first Emmy Award for Lou Grant and another Emmy and four consecutive nominations for Family Ties, as well as a nomination as executive producer for the critically acclaimed series Brooklyn Bridge. He again struck that balance of humor and poignancy in the 1989 feature Dad, starring Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson as a combative father and son bickering their way toward reconciliation.

Goldberg wasn't looking for a film project when he discovered Must Love Dogs. At home in a small town in Vermont, "I kind of fancied myself semi-retired at the time," he recalls, happily removed from the world of development meetings, casting sessions and 4 AM wake-up calls. Stopping at a local bookstore one day, he saw Claire Cook's novel, a Literary Guild Book Club selection, featured as the staff's pick-of-the-week. He read it and laughed out loud. Before long, he was mulling over possibilities for a script and bidding for film rights. "Claire does a wonderful job of capturing a moment in time," says Goldberg, referring to that surreal, post-divorce pause in which "you're in shock, retreat. Your confidence is shaken and you don't make great choices. That's where we find Sarah."

Matching Goldberg's enthusiasm for the story are dynamic producing partners - and sisters - Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd, of Mememto (2002 Independent Spirit Award winner and AFI Film of the Year nominee), Boiler Room and the phenomenally popular Austin Powers films. Suzanne shared a 1997 Emmy nomination for the acclaimed HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk, and Team Todd shared a 2000 nomination for its powerful sequel, If These Walls Could Talk 2.

"Unlike a lot of broad high-concept romantic comedies," notes Suzanne Todd, "Must Love Dogs derives its humor from real characters and real situations."

"It's a sweet, honest movie about putting yourself back together," says Jennifer Todd. "Plus, Suzanne and I enjoyed the sister relationship and the family dynamics, which are amazingly true to life. With Suzanne and I working together we've had so many people tell us either that they think it's wonderful and they would love to be able to work with a sibling or just the opposite, that they can't imagine how we do it and remain on speaking terms. Everyone relates it to their own circumstance and the same is true the first time you encounter Sarah's family, which is very much in each other's business."

Having no sisters of his own, Goldberg gratefully defers to the Todds on that subject, specifically for scenes that highlight the often barbed but unmistakably loving interplay between Sarah and her take-charge sibling Carol, played by Diane Lane and Elizabeth Perkins. "They gave me the sister stuff," says Goldberg of his co-producers. "There were times when Diane and Elizabeth were working out a scene and we'd be tossing it around and Jennifer or Suzanne would say, 'well, we'd do this' or 'this is what I would say to her,' and it all rang true.

"The kind of comedy that interests me is based in reality," Goldberg emphasizes, "mining legitimate laughs from territory that's familiar to people. I look for laughs of recognition that come from everyday life, where people in the audience will watch it and think, 'okay, that's me,' or 'that's my sister, my brother, my best friend.' You can sit there and laugh at yourself and your own foibles and know that you're not alone."

For all of Sarah's difficulties, she is most definitely not alone. Her loving family would never allow that. It's been entirely too long since Sarah has had a date and they're more than ready to do something about it. As the story opens, eight months after Sarah's divorce, we find the entire clan - siblings, sisters-and-brothers-in law and family patriarch Bill - convened in her kitchen for an intervention, armed with the names of every available guy they can think of, plus photos of a magazine model or two for general inspiration.

"As a single woman, it would be easy enough for Sarah to go to work and go about her day without ever facing her romantic issues. But her family, and their love for her, forces her to face what's going on (or not going on) in her life," Suzanne Todd explains. "They raise her dating problems to a whole new level."

"It's a tightly-knit, big Irish family, where everyone feels they know what's best for you and they're going to let you know exactly what that is. At the moment, they think Sarah's moping too much and needs to get out there and find a new man," says Lane, who sees her character as bruised and somewhat disillusioned but ultimately optimistic. Well respected for her remarkable range of dramatic roles, such as A Walk on the Moon, The Perfect Storm, My Dog Skip, an Emmy-nominated performance in Lonesome Dove and, most recently, her searing portrayal of a wayward wife in Unfaithful that earned both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, Lane also shone in the 2003 romantic comedy Under the Tuscan Sun and was pleased to return to a genre where she could use her sense of humor to connect with audiences.

"As Sarah, Diane's flair for comedy meshes perfectly with Gary's hilarious script about a modern woman's quest for romance and a soul mate in a world where both are in short supply," says Jennifer Todd. "Her timing is sharp and you really pick up the underlying self-deprecation in Sarah's remarks."

"Sarah is essentially a good girl," says Lane. "She was willing to remain in a marriage even though there weren't any fireworks, and is genuinely surprised when it's her husband who bails out. Truth is, she's never really found the love of her life. But the best thing about Sarah, never mind her current state of mind and the fact that if she didn't have a job she probably wouldn't get dressed for a month, is that she is still open to possibilities. She's willing to try again, which is the most important thing." All she needs is a little push to get started…

"Mate shopping?" "It's kinda like going online to buy a pair of pants…except there's going to be a guy in them."

Not long content with their advisory status on Sarah's love life, sisters Carol and Christine soon take things a giant step further. They open an account in Sarah's name on perfectmatch.com, along with a provocative profile and her high school graduation photo - complete with cap and gown. (In their defense, it was the only photo they could find that didn't include the ex-husband.)

When asked how she would react if someone did the same thing to her, Jennifer Todd lets out an unequivocal "Horrifying!," before admitting that she and Suzanne actually did post a friend's profile on an Internet dating website, although stressing, "the difference was that we told her what we were doing. Actually, in this day and age it's not as crazy as it seems."

Adds Suzanne, "it may seem unromantic at first but not so if you find the right person and it works out. When you look at the number of people who have met and married people via the Internet you can see it as long-term, if not short-term, romantic."

As part of his preparation for the project, Goldberg consulted renowned relationship strategist Susan Page, author of the book If I'm So Wonderful Why Am I Still Single?, for a realistic picture of what the newly single can expect. "Susan draws a comparison between people looking for love in America today and people who were looking for jobs during the Great Depression," he says. "The traditional ways of meeting people have broken down. There isn't the community that used to exist. Instead, there's this whole new sense of community on the Internet but it's still an alien world to many of us. It's like there's a big dance going on and Sarah doesn't know the steps."

The filmmakers agreed that any story depicting the current dating world would have to involve the Internet. "It's just become so pervasive," says Goldberg, who expanded upon that element for the screen version of Must Love Dogs, whereas the heroine in Cook's novel relied upon the newspaper for her personal ad interaction.

"Internet dating is fascinating in so many ways," says Suzanne Todd. "You can narrow your choices as to age, height, interests, religious preferences - almost anything. But you never know whether or not you'll have that special chemistry with someone just because they looked good on paper."

Additionally, Goldberg notes, "the potential for artifice is high in the cyber realm," although adding that pretense has eternally been intertwined with romance, so in the larger sense nothing has really changed. Frauds have always been frauds and will always be; likewise, diamonds in the rough are always waiting to be discovered. Be it via newspaper, high-speed computer or a friendly set-up through your aunt's dentist's neighbor's cousin, the rules, rewards and potential pitfalls for those seeking a love match are the same today as they were when Grandma debuted at the Church social. Vigilance counts. As does a sense of humor.

Elizabeth Perkins (The Flintstones, Cats & Dogs, Finding Nemo), who stars as Carol, outlines a typical nightmare situation: "There you are online chatting with a guy who says he's six-foot two, dark hair, blue eyes and in great shape. Then, when you walk into the coffee shop to meet him you think you got the address wrong because there's no one in the room who even remotely resembles that description. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"

Must Love Dogs takes this concept to its outrageous but, frighteningly enough, still plausible extreme, in a scene that would make any father, daughter or family therapist squirm. Sarah, still new to the process, answers an ad posted by a man who presents himself as "a young 50," only to find, when she arrives at the appointed alfresco café, that she has responded to her own 71-year-old father's ad. Whereupon, dear old Dad proclaims his innocence, insisting that "in the bottom of his soul" he is only 50 and that "the rest is poetry."

Similarly, when Sarah questions Carol's choice of adjectives on her Perfect Match profile, specifically "voluptuous" and "sensuous," never mind the fact that she doesn't even have a dog, her big sister's response is that the truth in advertising laws don't apply here. The point of a personal ad is to generate interest - and dates - and she can work out the details later. It's a pro-active sentiment echoed by Dolly, one of Bill's Internet girlfriends (played by Oscar- nominated Stockard Channing of Six Degrees of Separation and The West Wing), a vibrant woman with diverse interests who maintains a dozen different dating profiles in which she tries out various personas. "On one she's dressed up like a rodeo girl, fringe jacket and a cowboy hat, and on another she's all champagne and caviar," says Jennifer Todd. "Her philosophy is, increase your visibility and your odds." Besides, how do you know you don't like skydiving, rodeos or opera if you've never tried it?

Thus begins Sarah's hilarious odyssey of first dates, or, as she might later describe some of them: the arm wrestler, the handcuff expert, the one who brought his 14-year-old daughter along and the uncontrollable weeper - and that's not counting the guy who took "must love dogs" literally and howled on her voicemail. Twice. Or the jerk who opened their dinner conversation by bluntly remarking, "I thought you'd be younger."

"I can't believe how stupid guys are," says Goldberg, revealing that the I-thought-you'd-be-younger scenario actually occurred to a friend of his, as did the one in which Prince Charming is accompanied by his sullen teenager. In fact, most of Sarah's dates are based on true stories culled from the filmmakers' circle of friends or their own not-so-distant pasts. "There's a lot of questionable behavior out there."

"You'd think we were pushing it for the sake of comedy, but the truth is, we're not taking liberties here; these are very realistic," Jennifer Todd confirms. "You should have heard the horror stories people volunteered once they knew we were doing this movie."

One definite standout in this eclectic parade is individualist Jake Anderson, played by multi-talented John Cusack, whose facility for both drama and comedy is evident in a career marked by titles such as Being John Malkovich, Pushing Tin, The Grifters, Bullets Over Broadway, The Thin Red Line, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and 2000's High Fidelity, for which actor/screenwriter Cusack earned Writers Guild, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Also recently divorced, Jake is going through his own angst and uncertainty in self-imposed exile and with more than a measure of sardonic humor. Most nights find him alone, working on the specialty wooden racing boats he designs or wallowing in countless screenings of his favorite tribute to doomed romance, Dr. Zhivago.

Like Sarah, Jake is reluctantly pushed back on the market, not by his family but by best friend Charlie (Ben Shenkman, Angels in America) who has, quite frankly, had enough of the Russian winter landscape and mopey Jake.

After Jake refuses to see any of the bimbos on Charlie's speed-dial, Charlie tries another tack. Without his friend's knowledge, he clicks onto Sarah's Perfect Match profile and arranges a date for her with Jake at a local dog park - an event for which they must both borrow dogs or risk appearing disingenuous. Jake shows up nervously with a neighbor's feisty terrier and Sarah brings her brother's imposing Newfoundland, Mother Teresa.

Literate, emotionally oriented and straightforward, Jake also has a tendency to be, well…. a little intense. Not much for small talk, this is man who wants to know upfront who you really are, what you're passionate about and what your thoughts might be on, say, the meaning of life, and will gladly break out his own theories. "He's kind of a throwback guy," explains Goldberg, "looking for authenticity in perhaps the most unauthentic time in human history." For Sarah, who's just starting out on her own again, when wearing her hair up or down is still a major decision for the evening, a relationship with Jake seems like more work than she's looking for.

Meanwhile, there's another "potential maybe" she met the old-fashioned way - in person, at the preschool where she works. Bob Connor, the handsome, charming, easygoing single father of one of her students is played by Dermot Mulroney, the versatile star of About Schmidt, My Best Friend's Wedding, Tom DiCillo's Box of Moonlight and Living in Oblivion and the compelling 1990 drama Longtime Companion. Sarah and Bob have been shyly flirting over the Crayolas and the Curious George collection for weeks, every time the doting Dad comes to collect his son, although Sarah is hesitant to compromise her job by getting involved with a parent. Then again, as her sisters are quick to point out, maybe that's just an excuse because she doesn't want to take a chance or, more likely, because Bob seems so much like the perfect guy it's frightening.

"The trouble is," suggests Jennifer Todd, "at this stage Sarah is afraid of making another mistake and falling into the same trench she just climbed out from. She's far from confident about making the right choices."

"Ultimately it's the simple truths that are most difficult to learn, like that very sensible advice about being yourself," offers Goldberg. "You need to wait for someone who values you to come along instead of trying to guess what other people deem valuable and then trying to make yourself into that model. Until you can honestly assess what you really want and why, you can't make the right decisions and take control of your life. It's a process; trial and error." And luck? "Oh yeah, luck helps. Luck helps a lot."

Casting: Setting Up the Perfect Group Date

"Comedy is collaborative," Goldberg believes. "You really cannot impose it." Consequently, he fosters the kind of open atmosphere on set guaranteed to bring out the best of everyone's energy and instincts.

"The best joke always wins with Gary, the funniest way it plays, whether he wrote it exactly that way or not," confirms Jennifer Todd. "He's tremendously flexible and willing to change anything at the last minute and work around something new; nothing slows him down."

In this case, "Everything starts with Diane Lane because she is in virtually every scene," says Goldberg, who credits Lane for impeccable timing and a flair for physical comedy, as well as the more subtle ability "to play in the realm of heightened reality while never leaving the ground. For Diane to be funny, she doesn't have to step outside herself and present you with a totally different character. Not all actors can play the middle; if they're going to be funny, they really let you know it and that, in my opinion, removes the audience from the moment. You're doing their work for them. But actors like this know how to throw their change-up with the same delivery that they throw their fastball and suddenly you're right there with them."

Lane warmed to the role from her first script reading, recognizing amidst the laughs the ring of truth the story delivers to "so many people who are realistically looking to meet someone special and facing the frustrations that entails. The fact is, there are more women looking for love than there are available men and there are a lot of people, men and women, who are investigating dating services for the first time. It's a story people can relate to."

She also liked the element of traditional role reversal in Sarah's scenes with Jake, noting that, "it's Jake who's looking for something significant from the start. He's the one who clearly doesn't want to waste his time with someone who doesn't feel the same way he does, while Sarah is still testing the water and would rather keep things a little lighter. It's an interesting, refreshing dynamic to see a guy have that view of things, and less stereotypical."

Indeed, Jake is admittedly looking for someone special, versus someone simply available. "If he's going out there again, he wants an epic romance," says John Cusack, who stars as the classically romantic boat builder. "He understands there'll be some ups and downs and some exquisite agonies and he's ready to embrace it all; he's that kind of passionate character." Not that we would expect anything less from a guy whose emotional role model is Dr. Zhivago.

Although the part of Jake Anderson was already drafted when Cusack signed on, Goldberg was happy to bring the actor, a noted screenwriter in his own right (Grosse Pointe Blank and the BAFTA and WGA-nominated High Fidelity), into the process, to help refine and amplify the character into, "a more specific and interesting guy than I had imagined."

Describing their early discussions, the director recalls, "John had a lot of insight into the character, and I just said 'write some stuff up and I'll write some stuff up and we'll get together in a room and go over it.' He wasn't sure at first, but it came down to me saying, 'well, out of the 400 ideas you've thrown at me in the last eight minutes, I especially like 17, 21, 43…' and so on. There was certainly no shortage of energy and excitement."

Cusack cites another role reversal in the progress of Jake's and Sarah's relationship, pointing out that, "usually, I play the guy who has to chase the girl and in this case it's Sarah's story and she's the one who initiates everything with her personal ad. She's the one who's actively seeking potential matches and it's Jake who responds."

A working actor since his teens, he likens first dates to auditions, wryly recalling "nightmare scenarios" in which, "sometimes it just doesn't go well at all. You walk in there and lay everything on the line and then they look at you like you completely missed the point."

Representing the opposite end of the dating spectrum is Sarah's new hot prospect Bob Connor, played by Dermot Mulroney with a casual confidence that makes it clear Bob has never worried about making a good first impression. For him, it's always been guaranteed.

Bob is a genuinely great father, a premise that Mulroney does not deny, although admitting his character's parental devotion "has the added advantage of making him look sensitive to women," certainly a plus in the dating market and a fact that Bob clearly trades on, all the better because it's effortless.

"He meets Sarah at the school where she teaches his son, and even though she's in the caregiver role, Bob sees that she's the one who's in need of some attention," jokes Mulroney. "See, Bob is a good guy. He's just doing his part."

It's Bob's precocious son Austin (played by Bobby Coleman) who announces his father's eligibility by repeating in class something he no doubt heard from Mom, that "Dad likes other women" - a potential red flag to any discerning female, but, on the other hand, could just as well be a bitter and undeserved criticism about a man who maybe just hasn't found the Right One yet.

"Bob is the obvious choice," Goldberg acknowledges. "He's handsome, charming, well-spoken, a good father. He really looks like the perfect guy" - so much so that at one point early on Sarah wonders if it's just too easy. But when something is right, isn't it supposed to be easy?

As Jennifer Todd assesses it through Sarah's eyes, "She can relate to this guy whose marriage recently fell apart and who's at a stage where he's exploring his options out there in the world. It's really the same place that she's in. It's a delicious role for Dermot because he starts off playing one kind of character and ends up revealing himself as someone quite different."

"It's refreshing to see an adult romantic comedy," says Mulroney, who launched his career in the Brat Pack era with Young Guns and has since starred in a diverse range of notable films including the acclaimed Longtime Companion, Living in Oblivion, Showtime's Emmy-nominated Bastard Out of Carolina and the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding. "It's such a well written script and the humor is natural, my feeling is that I shouldn't get caught trying to make it funny. It's my job to keep my head down and let the fur fly around me."

Married for more than a decade to actress Catherine Keener and the father of a young son, Mulroney laughs when asked if he has ever used a dog to attract women. "Well… let's just say no," he responds. "Yeah, let's go with that."

Goldberg and Elizabeth Perkins were undeniably in accord on capturing the personality and function of Sarah's sister Carol in the Must Love Dogs ensemble. "When we were trying to cast that part, I kept wondering aloud, 'where's Eve Arden? Where's Ann Sothern?' says Goldberg, fondly recalling those great actresses who had a special talent for giving depth and flair to essential supporting roles and whose dialogue always snapped with wit. "One day on the set, after we'd been lucky enough to have found Elizabeth, she happened to remark, completely independently and never having heard me say it, 'you know who Carol reminds me of? Eve Arden.'"

"Elizabeth is hysterical as the acerbic and loveable big sister," says Suzanne Todd. "It's a classic big-sister portrayal for our times - the meddling, know-it-all, boss-you-around sister who you know would kill anyone who tried to hurt you. Jennifer and I find the relationship between Sarah and Carol especially entertaining because it's so similar to our own. Your sister is your biggest fan and worst critic. It's wonderful to have someone who will always tell you the absolute truth, loves you unconditionally and would do anything to ensure your happiness."

However, as Carol plays fast and loose with Sarah's Internet profile, "wanting Sarah's happiness means, for Carol, wanting the same things for her sister that make her happy, which Sarah may not necessarily want," Perkins admits. "But that doesn't matter because Carol has the whole world figured out. She knows exactly what everyone should be doing and she has no problem telling them about it. In one way, I think there might be just a little bit of jealousy involved too, as Carol is married and has a couple of kids and might enjoy living vicariously through her sister's new love life - not that she'd ever admit it."

As the youngest of three sisters in real life, one of the delights of portraying the eldest was, for Perkins, "the opportunity to play out some of my fantasies of being the bossy one for a change, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. Plus, I think I have some of the best lines because Carol always has to have the last word."

"That's just typecasting. Elizabeth is always bossing me around," claims Lane, tongue in cheek. The truth is, the two share a close friendship of many years and previously co-starred in the feature Indian Summer and the soon-to-be-released Griffin Dunne drama Fierce People. For Lane, an only child, "she's the closest thing I have to a real sister and that connection made these roles all the more interesting to play."

Echoing Mulroney's sentiment and that of the players in general, Perkins says, "it's great to see a script like this where it's not all pratfalls and people tumbling down the stairs, but real intelligent comedy about relationships."

Although focused on Sarah's love life, the sisters are also slowly coming to terms with another potential relationship developing on the periphery of their family circle: Dolly, an effervescent, three-times married free spirit who has lately emerged as the frontrunner for their widowed father's attention through an Internet dating service.

"Dolly has a great appetite for life," says acclaimed stage, film and television star Stockard Channing, whose 1993 performance in Six Degrees of Separation earned an Oscar nomination. "She can be a bit silly and vain with all her wild outfits but she's truly a wise and kind-hearted soul, and realistic about romance and about people in general."

An eleven-time Emmy Award nominee, Channing won the award twice in 2002, for both The Matthew Shepard Story and her series regular role as First Lady Abigail Bartlet in The West Wing, which she has played since 1999. Part of the attraction of the Dolly role was how much it differed from the gravity of her West Wing performance. "I adore good old Abigail," she says, "but my background is comedy. I've been the First Lady for so long, I miss being goofy. Dolly is definitely a little goofy. She's just out to have a good time."

"Stockard makes Dolly irresistible," says Goldberg. "Dolly's a kind of out-there personality, which I think Stockard definitely had some fun with, but at the same time she keeps her grounded and you get a sense that this is a character with a very rich and interesting past."

Unfortunately, Dolly's free-and-easy approach to cyber dating, with her multiple profiles tailored to each of a dozen websites and her creative packaging of the truth backfires on her in a classic Harold and Maude moment when one of her regular Internet correspondents turns out to be a 15-year old boy under the impression that Dolly is a teenager. Worse yet, upon impulsively showing up in person and learning the truth, he isn't the least bit discouraged.

As gracefully as she lets down her would-be high school Romeo, Dolly also accepts the fact that Bill, the man she's grown to care for very much, isn't ready to make a commitment and might never be. "She's aware of his pain and has compassion for him. She knows his late wife was the love of his life and he's not looking to replace her," Channing understands. "She sees him genuinely as a human being, rather than 'a catch,' or just the hot new widower in town. Consequently, she cuts him a lot of slack when he does things like inviting three women to Thanksgiving dinner and expecting them to sit together. Dolly is willing to bide her time because she thinks Bill is worth it."

That's an assessment Bill himself would no doubt share, with a mischievous smile and an appropriate line of lyric philosophy.

Bill is brought vividly to life by legendary and widely accomplished actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps best known to generations around the world as the patriarch of another screen family, the Von Trapps of The Sound of Music. Plummer has distinguished himself in all acting genres in a career spanning 50 years and including such highlights as The Man Who Would Be King, Somewhere in Time, an Emmy Award-winning performance in Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers, The Thorn Birds, Dolores Claiborne and, more recently, Michael Mann's The Insider and A Beautiful Mind. Six-times nominated for Broadway's Tony Award, Plummer won twice; for Cyrano in 1974 and again for the title role of Barrymore in 1997.

"Bill is based somewhat on my own father-in-law, a genuinely charming Irish gentleman, very warm and generous. If you knew him for five minutes you could have anything in his house," Goldberg reveals. "He was also on the cutting edge of everything, even into his 80s, he never stopped being interested in the world and what was going on."

A father of daughters himself, Goldberg finds "the relationship between Bill and Sarah powerful and resonant. Chris is such a phenomenally skilled actor that he provides all the subtext for the character without having to involve a lot of talking about it. You sense how deeply he feels, how much he cares for his little girl and how seriously attached he was to his late wife. You know, even before he explains it to Sarah, that his decision to start dating again has nothing to do with her mother who, of course, can never be replaced."

Plummer appreciated the way the writer/director avoided "the traps of sentimentality, with a lighter touch and a bit of edginess," and how the script "kept from tying everything up in neat little bundles to satisfy everyone. One of the things I most liked about the story was the fact that it left a fair amount to the imagination. You wondered, for instance, what would happen to the situation with Dolly and Bill, particularly as his true love and loyalty remains with his departed wife. We can't get too cozy with Dolly after all, because he doesn't know where that relationship will ultimately lead," and, true enough to life, neither does she.

Expressing the consensus of cast and crew, Jennifer Todd calls Plummer "incredibly charismatic," and credits him with "bringing invaluable authenticity to the part of Sarah's father. They are in some ways having a parallel experience re-visiting the dating world although it's very different for each of them, and while that's fertile ground for comedy there's also a poignancy to it that Diane and Christopher subtly bring out in their scenes together."

Rounding out the main cast are Ali Hillis (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) as Sarah's conspiratorial younger sister Christine, with "solid gold" dating tips from Sports Illustrated, and Glenn Howerton (ER) as her brother Michael. Julie Gonzalo (Christmas with the Kranks) and Brad William Henke (Nikki) are June and Leo, Sarah's supportive colleagues at the preschool, and Ben Shenkman (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for Angels in America) is Jake's cynical friend Charlie who, although completely lacking in taste and good sense himself when it comes to women, at least deserves credit for selecting Sarah's Internet ad for Jake.

The Dogs: Unconditional Love

Not a dog owner herself, Sarah is a frequent and willing babysitter for her brother Michael's playful Newfoundland, Mother Teresa, and borrows the sweet-natured bundle of fur for her first date with Jake at the dog park. In contrast to the complications, drama and pretense that characterize adult relationships, Mother Teresa provides only unconditional devotion.

An uncommon breed, and quite large, Newfoundlands are aptly described by Cusack as "great big, lovable, furry teddy bears."

Mother Teresa was played by two female Newfies, Molly and Mabel, selected and trained by renowned animal handler Boone Narr, with head trainer Mark Harden and the team at Boone's Animals for Hollywood, a 33-year industry institution. Although sizeable enough on screen, both dogs were still only puppies, six months old and 80 pounds at the time of production, which is half their potential. Traditionally bred as seafaring rescue dogs, full-grown Newfoundlands will tip the scales at about 150 pounds for females and as much as 165 pounds for males.

Goldberg, a dog-lover who already had four at home and happily adopted Molly and Mabel when production wrapped, admits that, "the dog in Claire's book wasn't a Newfoundland but I'm crazy for Newfies; they have such sweet natures and their eyes are so expressive."

Narr's team located two puppies similar in appearance and began working with them several months prior to filming. "The weak points in one dog's performance will be the strong points for the other," explains Narr, who grounds his regimen in the belief that individual animals will naturally reveal their own talents and personalities in the process.

In addition to hitting their marks, sitting, standing up, laying their heads down, speaking, directing their looks, jumping into a lake and swimming on cue, Molly and Mabel had to master the "go-with," in some cases the most difficult exercise of all, wherein a animal must focus its attention onto an actor as if it were that person's pet, while appearing unaware of the trainer who is providing the cues off-camera.

The trainers' skill at the "go-with" was tested in the film's dog park scene, which matched extras with 26 trained dogs of various breeds who had, understandably, a tough time coping with all the intriguing new scents and sights in the Long Beach public park. "Fortunately, what Gary wanted was a kind of natural, controlled chaos," Narr says, "so it worked out well."

In reference to the industry adage about actors wary of working with dogs or children, he acknowledges that, "the way actors interact with an animal, no matter how well trained, can really make or break a scene. These guys have been great. They spend their own time working with us and there's nothing they won't do to make the situation work for the dog. Diane will give commands and reward the dog if we can't get there in time. She doesn't care about getting slobber on her. She doesn't care about getting her hands dirty."

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - John Cusack, Christopher Plummer, Stockard Channing and Dermot Mulroney have been cast in Warner Bros. Pictures' "Must Love Dogs."

Gary David Goldberg is directing from his own script.

The quartet join Diane Lane and Kyra Sedgwick in the romantic comedy about a woman whose family enrolls her in a number of online dating programs after she swears off men. "Dogs" is based on Claire Cook's 2002 novel.

Cusack just completed shooting the action comedy "Ice Harvest" for director Harold Ramis and Focus Features. Plummer currently is shooting Terrence Malick's adventure drama "The New World" for New Line.

John Cusack and Dermot Mulroney have inked to play the male leads opposite Diane LaneDiane Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures' romantic comedy "Must Love Dogs." Christopher Plummer and Stockard Channing have also inked to play Lane's parents.

Gary David Goldberg wrote and is directing the film, which he is also producing with Jennifer and Suzanne Todd. Pic is slated to start shooting next month.

"Dogs" is the story of a divorcee (Lane) who, after choosing another Mr. Wrong, swears off dating. Her close-knit Irish-American family enrolls her in a number of online dating programs.

Kyra Sedgwick and Alli Hillis have signed on to play her sisters.

Pic is being exec produced by Grant Rosenberg and overseen at the studio by Polly CohenPolly Cohen.

Posted: Wed., Oct. 6, 2004, 7:56pm PT
Date in print: Thurs., Oct. 7, 2004, Los Angeles

"I'm getting ready to pack up and head out to Hollywood for the filming of the Must Love Dogs MOVIE!! Woo-hoo! If you're one of the few people in the universe I haven't told personally, Gary David Goldberg is writing/directing/producing, Warner Bros. is the studio partner, and Diane Lane and Christopher Plummer are starring! I'm hoping I can share more news next week, so check back in."

She remembers the moment as if it were yesterday.

Scituate resident and author Claire Cook had just arrived at Chicago's O'Hare airport on a flight from Boston for the first stop on her first national book tour.

Her publisher had told her someone would be waiting for her at the baggage claim area to escort her to her first appointment, but when she headed for her luggage, she didn't know whom, she should be looking for.

When she arrived at the baggage conveyor, she found a line of people standing off to one side, all holding signs bearing the names of those they were waiting for, but her name wasn't on any of their placards. At the very end of the line, however, stood one last person who just happened to be holding a copy of her book, "Must Love Dogs."

"I just literally screamed," Cook said recalling the event. "It [was] probably the biggest jolt of excitement."

Ever since that unexpected meeting, excitement and success have closely followed Cook and the writing career she's promoted across the country. Cook has sold more than $200,000 books and her second book "Must Love Dogs" is being turned into a Warner Bros. feature film starring Oscar nominated actress Diane Lane and Christopher Plummer.

Cook was back home in Scituate Monday, to discuss the release of her latest book, "Multiple Choice" to a packed town library meeting room. Due to the special Town Meeting going on at the SHS gymnasium slated to begin at the same time, Cook started an hour early enthusiastically discussing her career as a novelist and signing copies of her new book

'It's going really really well," said Cook. "It's amazing. I'm so very lucky."

Although its only been on store shelves for three days, "Multiple Choice" has already been selected as one of Book Sense's selections of the month for July, Barnes & Noble's have named it the national Book of the Week for June 28, and Cook said offers to purchase the book's movie rights have already been rolling in.

In addition to her appearance at the library, Cook has been busy this week visiting numerous local libraries and book shops, and fielding a handful of print and radio interviews. Today, she's scheduled to meet with fans, and sign their books at the Barnes & Nobles in The Prudential Center in Boston, before she flies to North Carolina tomorrow for the first leg of a multi-city tour.

Cook said she credits a lot of the success she's had to the support she's been given by her friends and fans in Scituate, as well as the local booksellers including the Front Street Book Shop as well as Buttonwood Books in Cohasset, who have helped create some positive buzz about the novels.

Although she's currently under contract with Viking books - a company within the massive Penguin Books publishers who have great marketing capabilities - Cook said no amount of creative or high-priced advertising can ever surpass that of positive word of mouth.

In her novels, Cook often includes references to Scituate and its citizenry, from its quirky shops to its interesting characters. In Multiple Choice, she even named one of the novel's key figures after legendary Scituate English teacher Peter Nord, who claims Cook still owes him an essay on Moby Dick from her senior year.

After graduating from Scituate High School in 1973, Cook went on to study writing in college, but upon completing her university coursework, she landed a job as a teacher at the Montessori School in Scituate, where she stayed for 16 years.

During that time, she said she did not complete much writing, but towards the end of her teaching career she completed her first book Ready to Fall, and had it published in a small literary house in 2000.

Must Love Dogs followed two years later, and Cook then signed a two book contract with Viking, and she's been writing, traveling, and celebrating ever since.

"It's been a wonderful journey," she said. "I miss the kids but it is pretty exciting."

Although her writing work has kept her from the classroom in a full-time capacity, it's also led her back as she's been asked by many local high schools to discuss writing with their English classes.

"To be able to talk to kids and tell them about the world that's out there is a wonderful thing," said Cook.

She's also happy to chat with the students, as well as other aspiring writers, about the trade and joys of writing itself.

"So many people want to write a book," she said. "It's a lifetime dream for many people."

As she's currently in the preliminary stages of her fourth novel, Cook said she no longer has time enough to chat over coffee with every writer seeking advice, so she's recently been giving group lectures.

In January, she offered a free writer's workshop at the Scituate Library and 125 people showed up with notepads - including Nord.

Cook said she advised those in the crowd to understand who it is they're writing for.

To be successful one has to write a book that people actually want to read, Cook added.

Cook said she also tells aspiring writers not to be too dismayed by the negative advice she predicts many will offer them - as they did her - but instead to believe in themselves and simply go after what it is they want.

"Go after your dreams," she said. "There's a lot of negativity out there and you just have to rise above it."

And Cook's own experience with writing, and the joyous feeling she felt just a few years ago picking up her luggage, is a reminder of the goal many writer's shoot for, and some actually reach.

"It's surreal," she said. "Just to see your book on a shelf in a bookstore or library is every writer's dream come true."

For more information on Cook's books and appearances, check out her Website at www.clairecook.com