SOURCE: Hofler, Robert. Review of The Dog Problem, by David Rabe. Variety 383, no. 4 (11 June 2001): 25.

In the following review, Hofler offers a negative assessment of The Dog Problem.

The bruised male egos and themes of compromised manhood of David Rabe's best plays are all on display in his latest, The Dog Problem. This time out he wraps them in the format of an Italian mob comedy, a not-very-high concept he probably came up with before The Sopranos but not before we all saw Married to the Mob or Prizzi's Honor. What Rabe is doing in hit-man territory with The Dog Problem is anybody's guess.

As always in Rabe's world, dog is God spelled backward, and neither God nor the dog have to deal with the moral confusions besetting man. Once again, the men in Rabe's play are having real problems being men.

Joey (David Wike) is out to avenge...