Must Love Dogs (2005)
Preschool teacher Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane), divorced for eight months, is still grieving the end of her marriage. Although she didn't see it as being perfect, she probably would have stuck it out as what she saw as the "for better or worse" obligation of the wedding vows, that is if her ex-husband, Kevin, didn't end it for what ended up being leaving her for a younger woman. She is urged by her over-supportive family, comprised of her many siblings, their partners, and her widowed father, to get back into the dating scene, something she has been reluctant to do in not feeling ready. As such, her most proactive sister in the matter, Carol (Elizabeth Perkins), sets her up on an Internet dating site. Within her less than prepared state, Sarah does go along with meeting men by the means offered to her. Beyond especially her female siblings, Sarah is given unique perspectives on the whole issue of dating and commitment by her father, Bill (Christopher Plummer), who is exploring dating after losing who was the love of his life in Sarah's mother, thrice divorced Dolly (Stockard Channing), one of Bill's conquests, who he meets on-line, and Sarah's gay teaching colleague, Leo (Brad William Henke), who she sees as being in the most committed loving relationship with his partner Eric (Victor Webster) of anyone she knows. Of the men she meets, Sarah makes what she believes is a connection with two, albeit awkward in both cases. One is Bob Connor (Dermot Mulroney), the divorced father of one of her students, her hesitance in dating him only because of crossing the professional/personal line. The other is custom wooden boat builder Jake Anderson (John Cusack), who too was pushed into trying on-line dating by his best friend/divorce lawyer Charlie (Ben Shenkman), who wants Jake solely to get some action despite Jake wanting his love life to be more like Lara and Yuri in Doctor Zhivago (1965). Much of what happens between Sarah and the two men is based on what stage they are in post-divorce dating life, but is also dependent on how much Sarah is willing to take a chance on each, which may also include her and the respective man just not meshing at a given point in time, and her making a wrong decision in the process based on what she sees as the prospects.
The hardest trick is making them stay.
Sarah: I want to be in love. I want to wake up next to someone and see them smile, do the whole Sunday breakfast thing, go out and get the paper, stay in bed together all day.
Malibu Lake, California, USA
Park Boulevard, Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 North Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA
Ville restaurant - 22160 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, California, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Stage 20, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
According to writer, producer, and director Gary David Goldberg, he gave the script to John Cusack and encouraged him to change any of his character's dialogue to better suit him. Goldberg was surprised by Cusack's response, who later sent him about thirty-five pages of new dialogue for his character.
The dog "Mother Theresa" was played by two six-month old Newfoundland puppies named Molly (who did most of the work) and Maeve (who performed the water scene) both of whom appeared at the end of movie together. Writer, producer, and director Gary David Goldberg adopted both puppies at the end of filming.
The "sticks" through which the kids hop in the beginning of the movie is a traditional Filipino dance. Tinikling is a dance where the sticks actually open and close to the beat of the music and dancers step through them gracefully.
Gary David Goldberg's company mascot, UBU, is a Newfoundland - the same dog in this movie. "Sit, Ubu, Sit. Good dog."
When Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane) and Bob Connor (Dermot Mulroney) bump into each other at the dog park, there is a table set up with an animal rescue group called "Animal Avengers". This is a real rescue group founded by Shannon Elizabeth.
Continuity
When Sarah's family are trying to set her up at the beginning of the movie, her sister Carol shows her a photo of a man with his wife. When Carol turns to stick it on the fridge, the man and wife photo is already there.
When Sarah runs out of the shop where she's having a manicure, she has flip flops on and toe separators on her feet. After she talks to Jake and turns around to go back to finish her manicure, the separators are gone.
When the character Sarah is looking at the pictures on the refrigerator and asks who the man in the magazine page is, the pictures are in a staggered line. When the camera cuts back to her for her line "Dad's giving up idea sounds intriguing.." the pictures are more widely spaced and the picture of the man and woman is below the others. When the character Mark places his photos of men who are separated from their wives, the photos are back in the staggered line again.
When Sarah first meets her date (played by Christopher Plummer) there is no yellow rose on his table during his close up but then magically appears when Sarah asks him about it.
Revealing mistakes
When Sarah is swimming to Jake's boat, a life preserver is visible across her shoulders under her shirt. When she is pulled into the boat, the vest is, of course, gone.
When Sarah is surfing the internet, there are no cables connected to her iBook, so she should be using an airport wifi connection. But on the next scene, when we see a close up of the menu bar, the airport wifi icon shows the airport connection turned off.
Audio/visual unsynchronized
When Sarah breaks Bobby's glasses on her front steps, one lens falls to the ground and you hear glass break. But the style of glasses Bobby is wearing is semi-rimless and cannot be made with glass, as the fishing line that holds the lens in place cannot support the weight of glass lenses. His lenses would have to be made of plastic or polycarbonate.
When Bobby joins the group and they sing "Come On, Get Happy", Bobby starts playing the piano while they're singing, but the instrument he's playing on is actually an organ and not a piano.
Character error
Jake commented that nobody would remake Doctor Zhivago (1965), yet it had already been remade as Doctor Zhivago (2002). It has been remade again as Doktor Zhivago (2006).
When Dolly is showing Sarah her multiple personalities on different matchmaking web sites, her computer screen shows an Apple Mac OS X desktop. Then she goes on and tells Sarah how her computer is working for her 24 hours a day "God bless its little Pentium-chip heart". Apple Mac OS X did not run on Intel Pentium computers when the movie was filmed.
While at the meat counter in the grocery store, the butcher announces that the special is whole fryers. "Two breasts, two thighs and a wing." Aside from the fact that a whole fryer has more parts, do they really mean only a wing? Are these mutant chickens? Although, it's quite possible, this line was meant as a joke.