In my life I've known many fucked up people and most of them have been dog owners. Actually, it's not that they're fucked up in the sense that you don't like them or want to hang out with them or whatever. They're fucked up in the sense that, well, they have trouble distinguishing between dogs and people.

You see, this is a basic difference between cat owners and dog owners. Cat owners have the ability to distinguish between their cats and people whereas dog owners blur the line. They treat their dogs like people. They don't think of themselves as owners. They're guardians or companions. I'll tell you right now, I own my fucking cat. That little bastard is mine.

"Year of the Dog" is about one screwed up individual named Peggy (Molly Shannon), who has effectively put herself in a situation where she, although she doesn't realize it, values her relationship with animals more than her relationships with people. When her dog dies, it sends her on a life-affirming journey of animal worship.

The fact that everyone around her is a complete whack job doesn't help. Her boss (Josh Pais) is so pathetically self-absorbed that it's sickening. Peggy's brother and sister-in-law (Laura Dern) listen to Peggy's stories like they're listening to the radio. Like most couples with children, the world revolves around them and their kids, not the other way around. Peggy's best friend, Layla (Regina King), is advancing in a relationship that's doomed.

After the death of the dog, Peggy tries to expand her human relationships, first with her neighbor, Al (John C. Reilly), and then with a worker at the shelter, Newt (Peter Sarsgaard). Al is a redneck while Newt is an asexual vegan freak.

The film was directed by Mike White, who quite clearly has an outcast's view of the world. Anybody who's ever been in that position knows exactly how that view works. You sit and stare and wonder why all these people do the weird things that they do. I'm not sure that White is very interested in exploring the nature of people so much as he is in painting a picture of the world as dominated by freaks.

We're all freaks in Mike White's world, each in our different ways. Welcome to Nerd 101.