Love the dog!

Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer,Everything is Illuminatedstars Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) as Jonathan Safran Foer, a young Jewish man who wants to learn how his grandfather escaped from the Nazi incursions into Russia. From the U.S., he hires the hip-hop loving Alex (Eugene Hutz, leader of the gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello) and his surly grandfather (Boris Leskin,Men in Black) as tour guides--only to discover, when he arrives in Odessa, that they are perhaps less than dependable. Thus begins a curious, almost metaphysical road trip that carries Foer into the past of his grandfather's village and the present of his own compulsive habits. Adapted and directed by Liev Schreiber (best known as an actor inThe DaytrippersandThe Manchurian Candidate),Everything is Illuminatedbuckles a little under its literary weight--what seems deft and resonant in the middle of several hundred pages can feel forced and ove! rstated in a two-hour movie--but it's also full of delightful dialogue, vivid characters, and oddball yet affecting scenes. Wood is his usual charming and neurotic self, but Hutz steals the show with the help of his wonderfully fractured English and his soulful eyes.--Bret Fetzer

Cast: Jan Filipensky, Mouse on Mars, Elijah Wood, Jason Schwartzman, Boris Leskin, Eugene Hutz, Zuzana Hodkova, Sandra Mikki, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jana Hrabetová, Stepán Samudovský, Ljubomir Dezera, Oleksandr Choroshko, Gil Kazimirov, Robert Chytil, Jaroslava Sochová, Sergej Rjabcev, Jurij Lemeshev, Pamela Racine, Oleksandr Houtz, Ludmila Kartouská, Igor Latta, Eugenin Marandic, Orest Tkachyk, Eliás Bauer, Jurij Kokyrc, Sergej Kapitan, Jaroslav Jurichkanc, Igor Savivskij, Bert Schneider, Tereza Veselková, Laryssa Lauret, Lukás Král, Vera Sindelárová

Director: Liev Schreiber

Genre: Drama

Release Date: September 23, 2005

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Screen Writer: Liev Schreiber, Jonathan Safran Foer

DVD Release Date: March 21, 2006

Runtime: 1hr 46min

Studio: Warner Home Video