In what might be his most adorably manipulative move yet, Cinema Society’s Andrew Saffir brought in a pack of highly adoptable furry friends from the North Shore Animal League to cohost a screening of “Darling Companion” successfully hitting everyone’s AUGGGHHHHHWWWWWW button in exactly the right way.

Co-host and animal hero Beth Ostrosky Stern was on hand to work the carpet, spending a fair amount of time on the floor engaged in full embrace with Kasey, the canine star of the flick (read: not adoptable) whose handler admitted to us that the Collie mutt commanded an impressive salary.

Time ticked on, and before we knew it we were standing face to face with Dianne Wiest who revealed her co-star Kevin Kline’s biting sense of humor without breaking her signature smile: “Yeah, Kevin just told me I’m really bad in the movie, he said to tell you guys to ready for a snoozer!” She leered playfully at Mr. Kline cradling a spotty bundle of fur.

While on the subject of pups, Dianne revealed she had one of her own:

“Oh he’s this big old German Shepherd, such a sweetheart,” waxed Wiest

“Did you lobby hard to get him in the film?” we asked

“God no, I doubt he could cut the hours—they really work those dogs. Kasey was a true professional.”

“He certainly appears to be – would you be surprised to hear that he’s not a SAG member?”

“HAH! Look at the sweetheart..”

We looked at the sweetheart.

Stocking up on popcorn and some complicated cocktails, we snagged a seat in the screening room for what promised to be a dog lover's delight.

Click through the gallery for a bite of the evening.