Duck: Seeing as they sometimes eat ducks, I’m not always a big fan of movies about dogs. (I mean, what the duck?! Really!) But I just had to make an exception for Walking The Dog, a super-ducking awesome Hallmark movie starring Jennifer Finnigan as Kristie and Sam Page as Keith. Also, I don’t think Gidget would ever eat me. As you can see from her photo, she’s clearly pro-duck.
Star: I’m glad you feel that way, because Walking The Dog really is a great, big warm pond of a film. And I believe zero ducks were harmed in the making of it.
Duck: Duck yes! The plot? Rival lawyers Kristie and Keith are fighting over a civic case—whether a certain part of the city should have a bike lane. But they soon find out that their dogs have taken a fancy to each other. Of course, it’s increasingly clear that their four-legged friends aren’t the only ones who are sweet on one another.
Star: Flipper-stomping performances from Finnigan and Page—and we’re usually big fans of Sam Page’s work—make this comedy quirky and cute while also affirming the importance of authenticity, both in love and elsewhere in life. Great chemistry between these actors whose energy really pops on the screen. I’m a big fan of actors who excel at being both funny and deep, and that’s the case here with both Finnigan and Page.
Duck: And thank you, Hallmark, for the depth of theming here. The relationship between Kristie and the dog she’s pet-sitting, Gidget, is ducking legendary. Many of us know what it’s like to fall hard for a duck (or, okay yes, a dog) and not know how we’re going to live without them when their owner returns!
Star: Love-bonds between humans and animals can be just a authentic and transformative as human love, and the movie really respects the beak-holes out of that.
Duck: Plus BIG POINTS, Hallmark, for showing, yet again, that love after loss is more than possible, and that a career where you feel ethically at home can make you fluff-to-flippers happy.
Star: AND for showing us mature, ethical break-ups that actually transform the lives of both exes in ducking fabulous ways.
Duck: Diversity? Zero ducks. Not a one. There were some actors of color, including Brenda Crichlow who did a fabulous job as Judge Mays, but we’d like to have seen greater diversity in general.
Star: Still, the film was so enjoyable that we surely have to give it five flippers. Duck?
Duck: Agreed. Five flippers—and a golden bone for both the dogs, who added great personality to a film that had zero ducks in it.
You can watch Walking The Dog here:
Amazon Prime (via Hallmark Movies Now)
Featured image courtesy of Hallmark Movies Now and Star Tavares
Romancey Pants 
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