''Darling Companion'' is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by

Lawrence Kasdan Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the ''Star Wars'' films ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), and '' Solo: A Star Wars Sto ...

, written by Kasdan and his wife Meg, and starring

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...

and

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

. Filming took place in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

in 2010 and was released on April 20, 2012.

Plot

Beth Winter ( Keaton) rescues a lost dog from the roadside and names him Freeway. Her children have grown up and moved away, and her husband, Joseph (

Kline Kline may refer to: * Kline (surname) Places * Klinë, a.k.a. Klina, in Kosovo United States: * Kline, Colorado * Kline, Iowa, in Des Moines County, Iowa * Kline, Louisiana, in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana * Kline, Pennsylvania, in Clario ...

), is distracted and self-involved. Beth forms a strong friendship with the dog and is deeply upset when, after her daughter's wedding, her husband loses the dog. They engage the service of a psychic gypsy to find the dog again. In the end after finally giving up, the family boards an airplane. While flying over the mountains, Beth sees the dog and her husband fakes a ruptured appendix to have the pilot turn the airplane around. In one last attempt at a search, they scour the trees in the area Beth saw the dog, when at last Freeway appears in a field and runs to Beth, reunited at last, bringing the family closer together.

Cast

Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996. Duplass has written and directed films, ...

as Bryan Alexander *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the T ...

as Russell *

as Beth Winter *

as Dr. Joseph Winter *

Elisabeth Moss Elisabeth Singleton Moss (born July 24, 1982) is an American actor. She is known for her work in several television dramas, earning such accolades as two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, which led ''Vulture'' to name her the ...

as Grace Winter *

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any writ ...

as Sheriff Morris *

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 Penny Alexander *

Ayelet Zurer Ayelet Zurer ( he, איילת זורר; born ) is an Israeli actress. She was nominated for awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Israeli Academy Awards and the Israeli Television Academy Awards. She won Best Actress awards for her roles in ...

as Carmen *

Jay Ali Jay Ali (born 29 March 1980) is a British actor best known for portraying Timothy in Freeform's '' The Fosters'', FBI Agent Rahul "Ray" Nadeem in ''Daredevil'', and Dr. Ethan Shah in '' Magnum P.I.'' Early life Ali was born in St Albans S ...

as Sam

Reception

''Darling Companion'' received mostly negative reviews from critics and was a box-office flop.

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 Wan ...

gives it a score of 21% based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 4.46/10.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

wrote "It is depressing to reflect on the wealth of talent that conspired to make this inert and listless movie."

References

External links

* * * 2012 films Films directed by Lawrence Kasdan Films shot in Utah American independent films Sony Pictures Classics films Films scored by James Newton Howard 2012 drama films American drama films 2012 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{indie-drama-film-stub