Enzo, who believes he has a human soul thanks in part to his TV watching, becomes a sort of savant at racing and a shrewd commentator on human preoccupations. Soon Denny meets and marries Eve, they have child, Zoe, and the novel moves in dog years from the sweet nostalgia of youth into the compromises of adulthood, where Denny’s checkered dreams hit the skids as some serious adulting takes over the plot. Racing doesn’t drive the narrative as much as it serves as a metaphor for life’s chicanes.
The overdue film adaptation of The Art of Racing in the Rain is coming to theaters August 9, and with it comes the apprehension of a beloved book getting marred by the movies. The opening of the trailer opens with a similar sort of skepticism as I had reading the best-selling 2008 novel: Am I really going to have to listen to a dog played by Kevin Costner narrate the whole thing?
The dog as narrator might be why it took me a decade to finally read it. Enzo the golden retriever is endearing pretty quickly and the reader forgets the obvious emotional ploy of the narrative device: Enzo, named after Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari, is sitting in a puddle of his own urine awaiting the return of his human, Denny Swift, so that Denny must finally say his unthinkable but inevitable goodbye.
It tugs at the heartstrings from the onset, even if the character names are fraught with authorial contrivance. Then author-screenwriter Garth Stein takes us back to the beginning of Enzo the puppy riding around race tracks as Denny chases his dream of being a professional racer. By day, Denny works at a body shop, by night he and Enzo rewatch races of the rain master Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula One world champion considered by many to be the best racecar driver of all time.
The Art of Racing in the Rain is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Mark Bomback, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by author Garth Stein. The film stars Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried and Kevin Costner as the voice of Enzo. It was theatrically released on August 9, 2019 by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $33 million worldwide.
The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)
Directed by: Simon Curtis
Starring: Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin Costner, Amanda Seyfried, Martin Donovan, Gary Cole, Kathy Baker, Aliza Vellani, Karen Holness, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Lily Dodsworth-Evans, Elizabeth Bowen
Screenplay by: Mark Bomback
Production Design by: Brent Thomas
Cinematography by: Ross Emery
Film Editing by: Adam Recht
Costume Design by: Monique Prudhomme
Set Decoration by: Zoe Jirik
Art Direction by: Shannon Grover
Music by: Volker Bertelmann, Dustin O’Halloran
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic material.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: August 9, 2019
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