Dog

 

Co-directors Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum take famliar and bankable formulas -- the buddy picture and the road movie -- and tweak them to fit Tatum's ebullient, mouthy strut and remind viewers of the walking wounded among us.

In Dog, Tatum is cast opposite a Belgian Malinois, and they both play Army Rangers traumatized by duties in the Middle East. They are on a five-day trip to attend the funeral of another Ranger, the dog's handler and Tatum's squadmate who had just killed himself by driving into a tree.

Tatum's sidelined and battle-scarred Briggs is offered the deal of transporting the seemingly unconrollable Lulu from Oregon to Arizona in exchange for another paid assignment, despite doctor's warnings that his head injuries, for which Briggs is being treated, are debilitating. After Lulu attends the funeral, Briggs is to turn her over to the Army to be destroyed.

As one might expect, the story is told episodically and reveals pieces of what Briggs and Lulu have lost in service to their country. The film, which is pretty entertaining, plays to Tatum's strapping boyishness but never lets us forget that his character is not a well man. The picture doesn't always maintain its equilibrium but it never falls into pandering or ridicule.