''Dedication'' is a 2007 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

starring

Billy Crudup William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee, winning once for his performance in Tom Stoppard's play ''The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has starred in numerous high-profile films, in ...

and

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her de ...

. Written by David Bromberg, this film is actor

Justin Theroux Justin Paul Theroux (; born August 10, 1971) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film ''Mulholland Drive'' (2001) and the thriller film ''Inland Empire'' (2006). He also ...

's directorial debut. The film premiered at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chic ...

. It was produced by Plum Pictures.

Plot

Henry Roth (

) is an obsessive-compulsive and somewhat misanthropic writer of children's books. His illustrator and only friend, Rudy (

Tom Wilkinson Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...

), dies after a fabulously successful collaboration on their series of children's books about "Marty the Beaver." Henry is under contract to produce another "Marty the Beaver" book for Christmas sales. His publisher, Arthur Planck (

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...

), assigns penniless, lovelorn illustrator Lucy Reilly (

) to work with Henry. She's being wooed by her ex-boyfriend Jeremy (

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most not ...

), who dumped her two years ago but shows up

apologetic Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

, having dedicated his new book to her. Lucy and Henry go to their publisher's beach house to work on the book. Will love bloom amid the rocks, or is Henry a bump on Lucy's road to Jeremy? Rudy's voice, from the grave, gives Henry counsel.

Cast

as Rudy Holt *

as Henry Roth *

Christine Taylor Christine Joan Taylor Stiller (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for playing Marcia Brady in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel'', as well as roles in films like '' The Craft'', '' The Wedding Singer'', '' ...

as Allison *

as Arthur Planck *

Catherine Lloyd Burns Catherine Lloyd Burns is an American actress and author. She is best known for her role as Caroline Miller, the title character's teacher in the television series ''Malcolm in the Middle''. Acting She has appeared in multiple television sho ...

as Mother in Bookstore *

Amy Sedaris Amy Louise Sedaris (; born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Most recently, she has appeared in both ''The Mandalorian'' (2019–2020) and '' The Book of Boba Fett'' (2022) as Peli Motto. She played Jerri Blank in the ...

as Cassidy's Mom * Cassidy Hinkle as Cassidy *

as Lucy Reilly *

Jeremy Shamos Jeremy Shamos (born February 22, 1970) is an American actor. Early life Shamos was born in New York City but raised in Denver, Colorado. He has a M.F.A. from New York University. Career Shamos is a character actor, his most notable roles are ...

as Matthew * Christopher Fitzgerald as Robin *

Dianne Wiest Dianne Evelyn Wiest (; born March 28, 1948) is an American actress. She has won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress for 1986’s '' Hannah and Her Sisters'' and 1994’s ''Bullets over Broadway'' (both of which were directed by Wood ...

as Carol * Jicky Schnee as Mandy the Waitress * John Ellison Conlee as Man at Lucy's Apartment *

as Jeremy * Christopher Grey Misa as Abused Kid * Catherine Kellner as Abusive Mom * Bobby Cannavale as Don Meyers *

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

as Roger Spade *

as Lawyer on phone

Production

Filmed in the New York City,

Wantagh Wantagh ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, United States. The population was 18,871 at the time of the 2010 census. Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones ...

, and Glen Cove. Gay pornographic actor Erik Rhodes filmed a cameo role for the film but his scenes were ultimately edited out.

Release

The film opened on August 24, 2007 in two theaters, earning an average of $5,958 per theater. It added two additional theaters the following week, but in its third week (September 7), it left one of the initial screens. Its fourth week also saw the loss of another screen, leaving the film to show in only two theaters (Irvine, CA, Los Angeles, CA) nationwide. However, in its fifth week, September 21, the film was added to 6 additional theaters (in Palm Desert, CA, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, Chicago, IL, Royal Oak, MI, Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA, Cambridge, MA) marking the largest theater count it had at one point during its run. The sixth week, September 28, the film lost two theaters, leaving 6 theaters during its last box office-counting week. Its seventh week, the film opened in 6 cities (San Diego, CA, Dallas, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Scottsdale, AZ, Portland, OR, Denver, CO) in which it had not previously been shown. In November and December 2007, the film started being shown in two-day runs in Northern California (Sonora, Davis, Visalia), marking its final theatrical run.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. , the film holds a 40% approval rating on the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 45 reviews with an average rating of 5.18/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Mandy Moore and Billy Crudup's lack of chemistry in ''Dedication'' makes it hard to maintain interest in this confused love story."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reported the film had an average score of 50 out of 100, based on 19 reviews. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and was given its official selection.

DVD release

The film was released on DVD on February 12, 2008 in the United States. The disc has no bonus features.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dedication (Film) 2007 films 2007 independent films 2007 romantic comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films Films scored by Edward Shearmur Films directed by Justin Theroux American independent films 2007 directorial debut films 2007 comedy films 2007 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films