Angus T. Jones and David Arquette in "See Spot Run."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, David gives this film a: Stars: David Arquette and Leslie Bibb Director: John Whitesell Rated: PG, with Crude humor, language and comic violence Length: 94 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By David Lee
Democrat and Chronicle

(March 2, 2001) -- See Spot Run has a lot of bark but no bite.

Younger kids -- boys who make noises with their armpits -- will fawn over the movie's amateurish pranks. But the rest of us will wish that the entire production had been kept on a tighter leash.

It could have been a fun physical comedy or a clever spin on mob tales, but this sloppy mutt of a movie ends up being not much of anything at all.

A dog-hating mail carrier named Gordon (David Arquette) has the hots for his neighbor, a single mother named Stephanie (Leslie Bibb). To make a quick business trip, she leaves her son under Gordon's inept care.

Meanwhile, a bumbling mafia don named Sonny Talia (Paul Sorvino) orders a hit on a drug-sniffing bull mastiff named Agent 11 (Bob), a clever FBI pooch who has a tendency to bite folks in a way that turns baritones into sopranos.

To protect Agent 11, his human partner (Michael Clarke Duncan) puts him in a witness protection program, but some botched moves eventually leave the canine in the unable hands of -- guess who? -- Gordon.

High jinks should ensue, but what we get are the sorry ghosts of Adam Sandler from Big Daddy and Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone.

Watching Arquette lead a 94-minute movie makes as little sense as dialing zero to make a collect call. He might be goofy, but his antics are much too bland to match Sandler's crude capers.

Angus Jones is sufficiently adorable as James, Stephanie's son, but he has to compete with the childish Arquette and the remarkably well-trained dog. If he had most of the movie to himself, as Culkin did, he might have been able to do more.

At least Home Alone delighted in showing us elaborate setups alongside their slapstick results. The physical humor in See Spot Run is crippled by its lack of imagination -- its best gag comes from a bit involving a remote control and an electric pet collar.

The rest of the jokes revolve around flatulence and defecation: This movie literally stinks.