Released: December 25th,
2008
Rated: PG
Distributor: 20th
Century Fox
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane,
Alan Arkin
Directed by: David Frankel
Written by: Scott Frank, Don Roos
Personal Bias Alert: wasn’t expecting much, a sucker for dogs
6.7 of 10
There
must’ve been some big piles of Kleenex on Christmas Day, 2008. Seriously, the theaters showing Marley & Me should’ve replaced the
cup holders with trash receptacles, because everyone showing up that day for
this family-friendly dogpile was leaving a snot-filled heap. Not that any of us should’ve been surprised;
the great tragedy of dog ownership is known to all, but the wallop of
authenticity that Marley & Me hits
its audience with is a shocking surprise after a first act of bad dog hijinks.
The Me
in Marley & Me refers to
newspaper man John Grogan (Owen Wilson), who adopts the bullheaded lab Marley
to stall he and his wife’s progression towards children. John still has vague aspirations to be a
big-time reporter but instead winds up as a columnist. Without thought, he writes about Marley. The dog is a bit of a terror, and his eating,
shredding, and peeing escapades takes up an unneeded 40 minutes of this film. These jokes are all slapstick and schmaltz,
with the lab wrecking everything and leaving John with nothing to do but smile,
dumbfounded at his tornado of a pet. To
call this section repetitive would be an understatement, and just when it seems
destined wear down everyone’s patience, the film turns on the drop of a dime.
Grogan,
who wrote the memoir on which the film’s based, must’ve experienced a similarly
abrupt turn in his own life when his first child was lost to a
miscarriage. As depicted in the film, he
and his wife, Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), return home not knowing what to
do. Marley, following instinct, makes
the right call and mopes with Jenny, unknowingly nudging the family to confront
what’s happened so they can move on. It’s
this moment and others like it that show a dog’s worth, and this fictional
version of Marley proves to be worth every cent of his damages. After that, a string of healthy children
appear and Grogan’s career takes off, moving the family in unexpected
directions but always finding a humorous anchor in Marley’s consistent
wreckage.
The
film is markedly more serious and slightly less schmaltzy after the
miscarriage, and the realities that the couple encounter as they transition
into middle age are remarkably well-portrayed.
Aniston and Wilson take a satisfying bite out of the mix of comedy and drama,
turning John and Jenny into characters you want to root for even when they’re
coming apart at the seams. What the
audience becomes invested in is their burgeoning family. Marley’s just there to push the couple past
the starting line.
As
enriching as this serious turn is, it skirts the real thorny issues this couple
certainly faced. Even when things become
dark, John’s oafish good humor keeps thing from appearing hopeless. Any emotionally charged moments are quickly
washed down with a shot of sweet memories, peppering in just enough weight for
the adults to be satisfied without scaring away the kids. This is a family movie, after all, so it can’t
get too real.
Even
though it can’t go all the way, what’s great about Marley & Me is that Grogan put himself and his family in
there. The slapstick comedy and
overreliance on cute moments gets in the way, but the ten-plus year journey that
John, Jenny, and Marley go on is substantive enough to get behind. The ending is one of the most overblown odes
I’ve seen, but for those who’ve loved a dog, every moment rings true. Now hand me the Kleenex.
Other
Notes:
Ø This
is a very racy PG.
Ø I
was dangerously close to checking out after the first 30 minutes. That destructive dog stuff is just not funny
to me.
Ø This
is one of only four films that has ever made me cry.
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