Alan (played by director Al Warren) has been tasked with looking after his girlfriend's beloved dog, Roo, while she's out of town on business. After a chaotic gender reveal party goes awry and Roo escapes, the struggling director must search for her while preparing to finally shoot a scene for his self-funded film. As Alan tries to maintain the illusion of control over his life and weird occurrences mount, his journey takes a meandering route through short vignettes with vaguely connective tissue, manifestations of doubt and special guest appearances by Nick Pinkerton (dir. The Sweet East) and Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself).

Drawing inspiration from Hong Sang-soo and John Cassavetes, Dogleg is a stressfully relaxing hangout with some extremely entertaining weirdos. Writer/director/leading man Warren puts himself through the ringer here, turning the harshest jokes on himself as his self-sabotaging character suffers through endless escalating situations. The Linklater-esque structure allows him to play with short form concepts while drawing out themes of identity and creative frustration, drifting through a parallel Los Angeles that actively resists attempts to navigate it.