{"id":340225,"date":"2025-12-10T21:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/340225\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:06:07","slug":"merv-movie-review-film-summary-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/340225\/","title":{"rendered":"Merv movie review & film summary (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart wrote \u201cSuze<\/a>,\u201d a movie I loved and reviewed for this site. \u201cSuze\u201d had an artificial premise, but the relationships were prioritized and there was enough eccentricity in the characters to keep things interesting. Sadly, the same cannot be said for their new film, \u201cMerv,\u201d directed by Jessica Swale. \u201cMerv\u201d is the story of a dog who gets depressed when his \u201cparents\u201d split up. Should they stay together for the dog, whom they both love beyond measure? This is a cute set-up, but there\u2019s something lackluster and even obligatory about \u201cMerv\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anna (Zooey Deschanel<\/a>) and Russ (Charlie Cox<\/a>) have recently called it quits, but neither can bear saying goodbye to Merv (played by Gus, a handsome little terrier with a sweet expressive face). Merv spends one week with Anna, one week with Russ, and back. Merv isn\u2019t into it. He mopes and whines, wanting them to be together. This shared custody agreement forces Anna and Russ to be in constant contact, not the best scenario for moving on with your life. Anna works as an optometrist and Russ teaches elementary school, and both have best friends (Chris Redd and Jasmine Mathews) whose sole purpose in life is to be a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear. The best friends are functional only.<\/p>\n

A couple bonded by a dog is proven ground in storytelling. There\u2019s no reason \u201cMerv\u201d shouldn\u2019t work. An ex-couple fighting over custody of their dog was covered for all time in the 1937 screwball comedy \u201cThe Awful Truth,\u201d where Cary Grant and Irene Dunne make a huge fuss over how much they hate each other, while still being clearly in love, all as they compete for their dog\u2019s loyalty. Perhaps it\u2019s an unfair comparison, but if it\u2019s been done before, and so definitively that the film remains a classic almost 100 years after it was released, maybe steal a page from the \u201cAwful Truth\u201d handbook. At every turn, \u201cMerv\u201d has opportunities to be silly, or playful with its central idea, or to generate some kooky shenanigans involving the dog and the ex-couple and their new dating life, and all of the problems and jealousies this could cause (in humans and in canines). \u201cMerv\u201d refuses to go there, refuses to be creative with its own premise.<\/p>\n

Much could have been saved if Deschanel and Coz had authentic chemistry. Why Anna and Ross broke up isn\u2019t revealed until nearly the end, but the film never explains what bonded these two together in the first place. Their overall vibe is mutual friend-zone. There\u2019s no sexual heat, no bitter feelings, no intense feelings at all! Cary Grant and Irene Dunne were at each other\u2019s throats for the entirety of \u201cThe Awful Truth,\u201d and you spend the whole movie wanting them to just get over themselves and reconcile. Russ and Anna seem basically together anyway, since they spend the entire movie together. Every choice made lessens the stakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerv\u201d is heartwarming, in the abstract, but the heat generated is strictly lukewarm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart wrote \u201cSuze,\u201d a movie I loved and reviewed for this site. \u201cSuze\u201d had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344],"class_list":{"0":"post-340225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}