BARK!

Lucy didn't used to bark, but she does now. Her loving husband Peter is worried, but willing at first to treat her behavior as a passing phase; she is, after all, a dog sitter in Los Angeles. After a while, though, Peter (played by Lee Tergesen) seeks the help of a group of misfit professionals: a kooky vet played by Lisa Kudrow; a wacky psychiatrist played by Vincent D'Onofrio; and a loser best friend, played by Hank Azaria. Heather Morgan, who also wrote the screenplay based on an initial 90-second comedy sketch, plays the afflicted barking girl, who is eventually placed on antipsychotic drugs. Adamik gives BARK! a sense of altered reality using a clever, theatrical style in which logic is turned upside-down. When Lucy's family is finally assembled in one hilarious, telling scene, it becomes all-too-clear that Peter's dilemma is bigger than the sound of a bark. Is a catatonic wife better than a barking one? The film exposes the bigger dilemma: How does one deal with mental illness, given the limited options that face us?