So Dumb, so Sincere, so Much Fun

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MOVIE REVIEW
AJ Goes to the Dog Park
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Genre: Comedy
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 20m
Director(s): Toby Jones
Writer(s): Toby Jones
Cast: AJ Thompson, Greg Carlson, Danny Davy, Morgan Hoyt Davy, Ethan Saari, Jason Ehlert, Crystal Cossette Knight, Jacob Hartje, Zachary Lutz, Whitney McClain
Where to Watch: opens in select theaters beginning July 25, 2025. See the list of theaters here: www.musicboxfilms.com

RAVING REVIEW: AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK is the kind of film where you're either in on the joke or you're the punchline. And if you can’t laugh at a man dramatically reacting to the closure of a dog park like it’s a national emergency, this may not be your kind of weird. But for those who can appreciate a proudly clunky, oddball comedy stitched together with more heart than budget, it’s a strangely enjoyable ride through the surreal suburbs of suburban malaise.

Set in Fargo, North Dakota—a place not typically known for surreal odysseys—the film follows AJ (played by AJ Thompson), a man so aggressively average he makes toast exciting. His life, while uneventful, is structured: cinnamon toast, dinner with friends, and visits to the beloved local dog park with his tiny canine companions, Diddy and Biff. When that dog park is replaced by a “blog park” full of laptop zombies, AJ’s life spirals into chaos. Or, rather, the kind of lo-fi chaos only a group of lifelong friends could concoct with three years, zero studio interference, and an endless love of bad ideas done well.

And here’s the thing—it’s bad. Gloriously bad. But that’s exactly the point. Director Toby Jones, whose background in animation helps explain the film’s strange tone, clearly never set out to make something perfect. This isn’t an indie film that wants to be the next Sundance darling. It’s a middle finger to cultivated cinema, a love letter to inside jokes and community theater vibes, and a surprisingly cohesive story buried under layers of silliness.

Jones leans into the absurd, crafting sequences that make little sense in traditional terms but are delightful if you grew up making dumb videos with your friends and laughing until you cried. From fish fights to stuffed dogs, the film never explains itself and never feels the need to. It’s an endurance test of gags, some brilliantly timed, others more likely to inspire head-tilted confusion—but that’s part of the fun. Even when jokes fall flat, the sheer commitment behind them gives them a strange kind of charm.

AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK thrives on a DIY ethos. You can practically see the duct tape holding the production together, and you’ll hear plenty of scenes where the audio didn’t quite survive the North Dakota wind. But somehow, that rawness works in its favor. There’s an authenticity to how scrappy it is—this wasn’t meant for critics or breaking the box office. It was created by people who wanted to make something both silly and sincere, and they succeeded spectacularly.

The performances are what you’d expect from an unknown cast, but there's real affection in how each character is handled. Thompson commits so earnestly to his strangeness that you stop questioning the logic of the story. Katie Versluis and Grant Thompson—AJ’s perpetually concerned friends—add some much-needed grounding to a film that otherwise lives in the clouds.

Visually, the movie feels like a time capsule from public access television, with editing that never quite finds its footing and shots that linger just a beat too long. But rather than criticize that, it feels more honest to say: that’s the point. This isn’t slick, it’s scruffy. It’s not cinematic poetry; it’s a messy doodle in the margins of a notebook. It somehow captures a kind of existential comedy that mainstream films rarely attempt.

The comedy swings wildly—sometimes it’s as smart as it is strange, other times it’s like watching your uncle’s improv troupe go off-script after a few drinks. But even the misfires have a certain charm. If you go into AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK expecting a pristine comedy with perfect arcs and crisp pacing, you’ll probably walk away confused. But if you’re looking for an odd, cornball, homegrown comedy made with unfiltered affection and proudly weird ideas, this one delivers. It’s not “so bad it’s good”—it’s bad, and that’s good.

Jones wasn’t trying to make a cult classic, but he might have accidentally done just that. Not because the film is misunderstood genius, but because it understands itself perfectly and doesn’t care whether you get it. It’s the kind of movie you’d show your friends at midnight just to see who sticks around and who taps out before the sap scene. AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK is corny, deeply weird—and proudly all those things. It’s a film that earns its stars by being exactly what it wants to be. Such a commitment deserves respect.

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[photo courtesy of DOPPELGANGER RELEASING]

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