Darling Companion

Darling Companion is a 2012 American comedy drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, written by Kasdan and his wife Meg, and starring Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline. Filming took place in Utah in 2010 and was released on April 20, 2012.

Darling Companion
Directed by	Lawrence Kasdan
Written by	Lawrence Kasdan Meg Kasdan
Produced by	Anthony Bregman Lawrence Kasdan Elizabeth Redleaf
Starring	Mark Duplass Richard Jenkins Diane Keaton Kevin Kline Elisabeth Moss Sam Shepard Dianne Wiest Ayelet Zurer
Cinematography	Michael McDonough
Edited by	Carol Littleton
Music by	James Newton Howard
Production companies	Werc Werk Works Likely Story Kasdan Pictures
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics (United States) Sierra/Affinity (International)[1]
Release dates	January 26, 2012 (2012-01-26) (Santa Barbara Film Festival) April 20, 2012 (2012-04-20) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$793,815

Plot

Beth Winter (Keaton) rescues a lost dog from the roadside and names him Freeway. Her children have grown up and moved away, and her husband, Joseph (Kline), is distracted and self-involved. Beth forms a strong friendship with the dog and is deeply upset when, after her daughter's wedding, her husband loses the dog. They engage the service of a psychic gypsy to find the dog again.

In the end after finally giving up, the family boards an airplane. While flying over the mountains, Beth sees the dog and her husband fakes a ruptured appendix to have the pilot turn the airplane around. In one last attempt at a search, they scour the trees in the area Beth saw the dog, when at last Freeway appears in a field and runs to Beth, reunited at last, bringing the family closer together.

Cast

Kevin Kline, Richard Jenkins, Meg Kasdan, Elizabeth Redleaf, Casey (aka Freeway) and Lawrence Kasdan at the 2012 Miami International Film Festival premiere of the film

• Mark Duplass as Bryan Alexander
• Richard Jenkins as Russell
• Diane Keaton as Beth Winter
• Kevin Kline as Dr. Joseph Winter
• Elisabeth Moss as Grace Winter
• Sam Shepard as Sheriff Morris
• Dianne Wiest as Penny Alexander
• Ayelet Zurer as Carmen
• Jay Ali as Sam

Reception

Darling Companion received mostly negative reviews from critics and was a box-office flop. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 21% based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 4.46/10.^[2] Roger Ebert wrote "It is depressing to reflect on the wealth of talent that conspired to make this inert and listless movie."^[3]