Marley and Me: Movie Review

Marley and Me: Movie Review

Rating 6/10 - 9/10 if you've ever owned a pet or like chick flicks
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Alan Arkin, Eric Dane, a host of Hallmark style puppy dogs
Director: David Frankel
The World's Worst Dog.
That's how the pooch at the centre of this film is referred to throughout.
Aniston and Wilson star as the recently married Jenny and John Grogan, a pair of journalists who relocate to Florida after the winters of Michigan drive them to despair.
Jenny's the tough journalist, given the major assignments, but her interest wanes after marriage as she starts contemplating kids.
Sensing his wandering days are up, Grogan does what any man would do in this situation in the movies - he buys her a puppy, hoping to delay the inevitable.
Enter the Hallmark parade of puppies - and Marley, the whirlwind force of destruction.
Within minutes of being at their house, Marley's asserting himself and wreaking chaos - as well as earning the title of the World's Worst Dog because of stealing food, chewing the furniture, refusing to be trained in dog classes and generally doing what untrained dogs do.
Marley's only weak point is thunderstorms which terrify him - but that's about all the rambunctious dog is silenced by.
However, Grogan uses his time with Marley as the basis for a series of columns with the Florida paper run by its editor (a wonderful turn from sarcastic and sardonic Alan Arkin)
And that's basically it - Marley and Me is essentially the tale of one family and their dog - along with the trials and tribulations of having children, and finding your place in the world.
There are a couple of nice touches throughout by David Frankel - a montage of the mundanities of daily life over a couple of months for the Grogans is concisely spliced together in the style of a music video (ie Went for a walk with Marley, wrote a column, saw the kids)
It's nice to see Owen Wilson flexing his proper acting chops rather than goofing around like he's done for so much of his career - his final scenes with Marley show an ability to convey real anguish and emotion.
And Wilson also accurately conveys a kind of empathy with Marley - where Marley's quick to be distracted by something else and chase after it, Wilson's Grogan does the same.
He's deeply envious of his buddy Sebastian Tunney (McSteamy's Eric Dane from TV2's Grey 's Anatomy ) and the high profile assignments he gets as a reporter - but the moment he's given a column on the paper, that's not enough for him and he chases after something else.
Aniston plays the same version of any character she's done before - she has the enduring charm - many of the people I heard in the cinema were remarking about how good she looks for a 40-year-old.
But the pair have a decent chemistry and work well sparking off each other - and with Aniston's Jenny reaching a near meltdown with three kids sapping her as well as a rowdy dog, she's spot on about the "joys" of motherhood.
The thing is with Marley and Me, you know exactly where it's going - (SPOILER ALERT) as they trace their life with Marley, it's inevitable he's going to succumb to the Grim Reaper.
That's not to say the end is mawkish - to be honest, anyone who's ever had a pet will easily recognize the pain and anguish of making that ultimate decision.
That said, there wasn't a dry female eye left in the house come the end of the film.
So you'd be advised to take along a raft of tissues - or at least pretend when the lights go up, that you have hay fever.

(Just make sure, if you do succumb to the charms of a puppy, you head over to the SPCA first and help some of the dogs who deserve it.)