Fighting awkwardness the entire 14 minutes, Edward Burns’ “Doggy Bags” is a silly romance comedy that you’ll remember for both the characters and the story.
This one will definitely have you looking for seconds.
The shooting style feels like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the quirky characters fit right in. Although you’ll question some of the plot development and logic, the film’s wit more than makes up for its temporary lapses.
This is mostly due to the adorable Daniella Pineda, who plays the conspiring crook, turned reciprocating love interest. Beautiful and utterly charming, the camera clings to her. Regardless of her character’s faults, you’ll want to see what she does next. Playing off this is the hapless “polite guy,” Matt Bush, who uses his boyish good looks and smart-ass one-liners to play an Everyman that every guy can see a bit of themselves in. A short film like this lives and dies on the performances of the main stars and “Doggy Bags” doesn’t take anything home. It leaves everything on the screen.
The supporting performances of Marsha Dietlein Bennett, as the snarky waitress and big screen veteran Mike McGlone as the hungry big brother, add another element that fills out the film nicely. Anything but distractions, they add humor and a “Hey, that’s what I was just thinking” feeling to the product. You could easily say that the picture would have been solid without them, but it wouldn’t be the same.
Whimsical, yet ironically reflective of today, “Doggy Bags” is a stranger comedy, but it’s still one that can fill your comedic gullet.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Fighting awkwardness the entire 14 minutes, Edward Burns’ “Doggy Bags” is a silly romance comedy that you’ll remember for both the characters and the story.
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