Year of the Pup

Today will be a photo gallery, and you'll see how my photography skills are improving. (Right?) To the left, Mike White, the writer-director of "Year of the Dog," which premiered last night at Paramount. He' seems to be a rather sweet, talented guy -- his friends Ben Stiller and Jack Black, the old comedy posse, showed up -- and the movie reflects that quirky, compassionate sensibility. It's a movie about dog love, real dog love, in which Molly Shannon stars as the over-the-hill gal with nothing but dogs to make her happy. And, eventually, that makes her plenty happy.  There was a slight snafu - nightmare moment for a director - when five minutes into the screening, the sound stopped working. Lights up, shuffling of feet, uncomfortable silence for nearly a half-hour. They finally got it fixed, White came to the front of the hall and announced that they would restart the movie and added: "And I'm going to go throw up. Let me know how it goes."