Henry Roth is an obsessive-compulsive and somewhat misanthropic writer of children's books. His illustrator and only friend, Rudy, dies after a fabulously successful collaboration on their series of children's books about "Marty the Beaver." Henry is under contract to produce another "Marty the Beaver" book for Christmas sales. His publisher, Arthur Planck, assigns penniless, lovelorn illustrator Lucy Reilly to work with Henry. She's being wooed by her ex-boyfriend Jeremy, who dumped her two years ago but shows up apologetic, having dedicated his new book to her. Lucy and Henry go to their publisher's beach house to work on the book. Will love bloom amid the rocks, or is Henry a bump on Lucy's road to Jeremy? Rudy's voice, from the grave, gives Henry counsel.
The film opened on August 24, 2007 in two theaters, earning an average of $5,958 per theater. It added two additional theaters the following week, but in its third week, it left one of the initial screens. Its fourth week also saw the loss of another screen, leaving the film to show in only two theaters nationwide. However, in its fifth week, September 21, the film was added to 6 additional theaters marking the largest theater count it had at one point during its run. The sixth week, September 28, the film lost two theaters, leaving 6 theaters during its last box office-counting week. Its seventh week, the film opened in 6 cities in which it had not previously been shown. In November and December 2007, the film started being shown in two-day runs in Northern California, marking its final theatrical run.
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics., the film holds a 40% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 45 reviews with an average rating of 5.18/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Mandy Moore and Billy Crudup's lack of chemistry in Dedication makes it hard to maintain interest in this confused love story." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 50 out of 100, based on 19 reviews. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and was given its official selection.
DVD release
The film was released on DVD on February 12, 2008 in the United States. The disc has no bonus features.
