Who Gets the Dog?

Clay Lonnergan (Kwanten) and Olive Greene (Silverstone) are getting divorced.  Olive, a doctor, is keeping the house and plans to keep their dog Wesley.  Clay is a semi-professional hockey player and also plans to keep Wesley.  He plans to live in a trailer in the woods.  They aren't willing to share, so they try to get the dog to choose.  When that doesn't work, they go to court.

The judge awards temporary custody to Olive, with visitation rights for Clay.  They also have to see Dr. Wendy (Carle), a dog doctor, who will do home visits to evaluate them.  They also have to take Wesley to obedience school, which is run by Glenn (Batinkoff), who is interested in Olive.  Their best friends Libby (Cerda) and Rhett (Ryan) try to help the situation and act as sounding boards.  Rhett and Clay also coach a children's hockey, where Clay bonds with Rhett's nephew Koji (Bethea).  Can they find a way to share Wesley?


I love Ryan Kwanten films.  I discovered this romantic comedy on Netflix and decided to give it a shot.  It is a cute and unoffending film.

Kwanten and Alicia Silverstone have good chemistry.  They are both good leads and the dog is cute.  However, it is easy to see where the film is going.  It isn't great and parts are slow, but it also isn't terrible.  There is potential here... with a stronger script and better direction, this film could be great.  The leads are likeable, the story just doesn't give them enough to work with.

Who Gets the Dog? (2016) 95 minutes
Director: Huck Botko
Starring: Ryan Kwanten as Clay Lonnergan
Alicia Silverstone as Olive Greene
Randall Batinkoff as Glenn Hannon
Matty Ryan as Rhett
Rachel Cerda as Libby
Devin Bethea as Koji
Amy J. Carle as Dr. Wendy