‘AJ Goes to the Dog Park’ Trailer – AJ Thompson Stars in Toby Jones’ Fargo-Set Comedy Film

AJ Goes to the Dog Park, the debut feature film from director Toby Jones (not the British actor) stars AJ Thompson as the lovably average AJ, whose blissful routine – complete with buttered toast, a calm day job, and daily visits to the dog park with his pups – gets turned upside-down when the park is transformed into a ‘blog park’. Alongside Thompson, the cast includes Crystal Cossette Knight as the mayor, with Morgan Davy, Danny Davy, and a host of Fargo locals rounding out the quirky ensemble.

The film made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024 in Austin, and is set for a theatrical release across the U.S. on September 12, 2025.

Here is the synopsis for AJ Goes to the Dog Park:

In humdrum Fargo, North Dakota, an ordinary man named AJ (AJ Thompson) wakes up on the right side of the bed every day. Content with his mundane existence, his simple routine consists of buttering cinnamon toast for breakfast, eating dinner with his married best friends, and visiting his favorite dog park with his beloved chihuahuas, Diddy and Biff. AJ rejects any interruption to his tranquility, including a promotion at work – offered by his boss who happens to be his dad, but still. Unfortunately, the despotic local mayor has converted his dog park into a “blog park” – where happy dog walkers have been replaced with corporate stooges hunched over their laptops.

Thus begins a chain reaction that completely upends AJ’s existence as he trains to embark on an unforgettable odyssey to fight, fish, scrap, scrape and sap things back into place. Toby Jones (Regular Show, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes!) brings the zany, gag-driven joy of cartoons to this surreal, no-budget testament to the average Joe.

In an interview, director Toby Jones explains where the idea came from, saying,”So this comes from my love of obsession with my muse, AJ. We’ve just been friends, all us have been friends for a really long time, and we discovered, at a very young age in high school, that if we place AJ in the middle of a scene that it just automatically creatively blossoms into something funny. And so it’s become something I’ve always wanted to return to. It’s almost been like I’ve treated AJ as almost like my Antoine Doinel or something where it’s just like I want to do stories of AJ for each phase of our lives.”

Critics are praising the film’s uninhibited comedic style, with Rendy Jones of Rendy Reviews writing, “AJ Goes to the Dog Park is sheer absurdism at its finest and with the lowest of budgets. Seriously, AJ has the value of a RocketJump or Rooster Teeth (RIP) production. And, like those channels, Toby Jones uses the budget to go ham on silliness. AJ operates on a buffet of irreverence, with gags thrown at every scene.”

Over at ComicBook.com, Spencer Perry gave it 4 out of 5 stars, and calls it a ” ‘gag-driven’ comedy by the filmmakers, and if that doesn’t make sense, then the first five minutes of the movie will tell you exactly what that means, and how accurate it is.”

Watch the official trailer for AJ Goes to the Dog Park.

Theatrical Release

Music Box Theatre
Chicago IL
07/24/2025

River Oaks Theatre
Houston TX
07/24/2025

Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan
New York NY
07/25/2025

Alamo Drafthouse DTLA
Los Angeles CA
07/25/2025

Dairy Arts Center
Boulder CO
07/25/2025

Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Austin TX
07/25/2025

Alamo Drafthouse Loudoun
Ashburn VA
07/30/2025