Happiness is a loving, rampaging mutt: Owen
Wilson as John Grogan and Jennifer Aniston as Jenny Grogan, with Marley the Dog,
in "Marley & Me", which opened today across the country and in Canada. The
film is directed by David Frankel, who last directed "The Devil Wears Prada".
(Photo: Barry Wetcher/Twentieth Century Fox)
THE POPCORN REEL FILM REVIEW/"Marley & Me"
A Weepy Tribute To Man's Best Friend
By
Omar P.L. Moore/December
25, 2008
For all dog lovers, a word of warning: "Marley & Me" requires a box of Kleenex.
You can predict what will happen in David Frankel's film long before it arrives,
and when it does it is exploited in such a crude (and cruel) way as to be
overkill. It is a cheap, unfair way to end a film that at best has been
mediocre, but it is amazing that Mr. Frankel's film is based on a true story in
a same-titled book written by former Miami Sun-Sentinel columnist and beat
reporter John Grogan (played by Owen Wilson), since "Marley & Me", which opened
today on Christmas Day, isn't an especially engaging enterprise. Jennifer
Aniston plays Jenny Grogan, married to John, and is a fellow South Florida
journalist. Together they make the decision to fill their expansive house
with a dog named Marley, who doesn't fetch newspapers but does put his
unmistakable signature on furniture, a destructive force who becomes a bigger
handful of chaos as he grows older.
We get to see Marley's destructive antics about a thousand times too often.
He doesn't save his adoptive human family from distress, he is the
distress that drives the family (specifically Jenny) stark raving bonkers.
Marley isn't your friendly neighborhood sentimental dog that saves a life.
Oh no. He disrupts lives, including that of a dog sitter during a Grogans
vacation. Marley is the centerpiece of the film but the key to "Marley &
Me" is the thing called life that keeps plugging along. Marley, it turns
out, is more vigorously alive than anyone in the Grogan clan. The film
tracks 15 years of life in the Grogan household during which time becomes
populated with three children and at least two moves of residence and two job
changes for our man John, who not surprisingly has become very much attached to
Marley despite the mayhem he creates. (But why on earth didn't the Grogans
get rid of such a turbulent and un-trainable dog?) In a strange way Marley
is the dog-triarch (I know no such word exists, but what the heck) of the Grogan
clan. There is melodrama supplied mostly by Ms. Aniston but it all appears
so calculated as to purposely bring the film to its inevitable conclusion.
David Frankel, who last directed
"The Devil Wears Prada",
doesn't infuse "Marley & Me" with any real excitement or energy. Only the
South Florida sunshine and the bikini-clad women of South Beach keep the blood
pumping in this otherwise lifeless and rarely funny film, with John's good
friend and fellow journalist Sebastian (Eric Dane) chasing every woman that
catches his eye. Everything else in the story is static -- time moves on,
lives move on. We live, we grow and we move on, or as Jack Nicholson's
character from last year's "The Bucket List" says, "we live, we die, and the
wheels on the bus go round and round." Like that film, "Marley & Me" is
about living life and having that special companion to take the journey with.
"Marley & Me" is enjoyable only to a point (which is hardly saying much); it has
little direction or any discernable plot. The occasional narration by Mr.
Wilson isn't needed nor is the change in scenery from Miami to the colder climes
of the Northeastern U.S. One wonders what it was about John Grogan's
best-selling novel that made it so appealing as to be adapted into the film that
we see here. Or it could be said that maybe Mr. Grogan's real-life book is
far better than this ho-hum silver screen affair represents. Either way,
"Marley & Me" is little more than a milk-bone treat for dog owners. Woof
woof!
"Marley & Me" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association Of America for
thematic material, some suggestive content and language. The film's
duration is one hour and 55 minutes and is distributed in North America by
Twentieth Century Fox.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2008. All Rights
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