Dogman was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it premiered on 31 August 2023. It was released in France on 27 September 2023. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
Doug is arrested in New Jersey while driving a truck full of dogs.
Evelyn, a psychiatrist, is sent to the police station to interrogate him. Through flashbacks he tells the story of his life. First, as a child victim of his father's violence to the point of having lost the use of his legs; his brief time in a juvenile institution where he falls in love with his theatre teacher, Salma, who introduces Shakespeare to him (he later states that he knows all the playwright's plays by heart); then as the master of numerous dogs helping him steal jewellery and precious objects as well as protect people in need. Doug also reveals he has performed weekly as drag queen in a cabaret act.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 71 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Besson, Landry Jones, and a pack of mutts lend DogMan their roaring souls, this entry offers ample creative risks and kibbled returns."[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17]
Catherine Bray, in her review for The Guardian, called Dogman "the most ludicrous film you'll see all year, maybe ever".[18]Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the movie three stars out of five, describing it as odd, but well-executed and amusing.[19] French film critics of Radio France criticized the accumulation of clichés and the lack of cohesion of the plot.[20] Jean-Luc Wachthausen of Le Point, however, found the film "disturbing and keeping its promises".[21]
