Marley and Me

Kristy Conlin | The News Record

So, what can be said about the film adaptation of one of the most beloved books in recent history? Marley and Me has no surprise ending, is completely predictable, probably won’t win any awards and is sappy and emotionally manipulative.

But all that still doesn’t mean the average movie-goer won’t enjoy it or that it isn’t worth spending your hard-earned $9 on.

After all, anyone with a heart, anyone who has ever had a pet, will laugh and cry at the plight of newspaper columnist John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and his wife Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), who believe they are raising the world’s worst dog. Wait, doesn’t everyone who is raising a puppy think that? Only the coldest hearted of dog haters wouldn’t find some redeeming value in Marley and Me.

The decision by John to get Marley is made as a way to stave off what his skirt-chasing, free-living friend and colleague Sebastian (Eric Dane – Grey’s Anatomy’s Dr. McSteamy) deems as Jenny’s inevitable, soon to arrive desire to have children. The result is a bargain basement, clearance-priced puppy that is rather, well, rambunctious.

He eats entire sofas, chews through walls and jumps like an Olympic trampolinist. He scares adults, children, pet sitters and Kathleen Turner (in a great cameo role – her first in several years) alike. But doesn’t everyone know someone with a dog that is similarly badly behaved? And therein lies much of the appeal of the movie – it’s relatable. And it has really cute dogs.

However, even cute dogs (more than 20 dogs were used in filming) can’t sustain a movie for roughly two hours. So the filmmakers threw in some other stuff, some slices of life, both drawn from the book and created for dramatic purpose. Jenny suffers a miscarriage. John and Jenny have a baby. A neighbor is stabbed. The couple moves to a safer, more family-friendly neighborhood. Jenny wants to be a full-time mom. They have another baby. Post-partum depression ensues. The couple nearly separates. Marley is thrown out of the house. Marley is back. They have yet another baby. John longs for more excitement in his career than being a columnist allows. The family relocates.

And through it all, Marley is there. Except of course for the one time Jenny, overwhelmed by babies and dog alike, demands that John find a nice farm for Marley. 

If there is to be any real criticism of the film, it’s that, while Wilson and Aniston are competent in their roles, they don’t seem to have tons of chemistry together and their acting certainly isn’t transcendent.

But that’s okay because the movie isn’t really about John and Jenny. It’s about the unconditional love and acceptance of and for a dog. The movie is (admittedly) little more than an ode to that which is the love affair Americans have with their furry four-legged friends. And that’s enough.

Go see Marley and Me. Allow yourself to be sappy. Allow yourself to be sentimental. Laugh when appropriate. Cry when appropriate. Then go home, hug your dog and promise never to take him for granted again.