Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: David Frankel, 20th Century Fox, PG, 115 Minutes.
This charming comedy drama from filmmaker David Frankel, director of ‘The Devil Wears Pravda,’ essentially centres on a recently married couple and their relationship with a dog named Marley.
Following their wedding John (Owen Wilson – ‘Wonder’) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston – ‘Horrible Bosses’) Grogan, both newspaper writers, move to Florida where John gives her a Labrador puppy before growing into a disruptive dog providing John the material for his newspaper column.
While Marley’s misadventures continue to please the readers of John’s column the dog persists in wreaking havoc on their household forcing John to take Marley to specialist dog trainer Mrs Kornblut (Kathleen Turner – ‘Beautiful’) but even that fails.
Before long Jenny has given birth to their son Patrick and later Connor with the family deciding to move to a larger house in time to welcome their daughter Colleen as Jenny becomes increasingly impatient at Marley’s annoying antics.
On the celebration of his 40th birthday and with Jenny now a stay -at-home mum, John accepts a reporter’s position with the Philadelphia Inquirer as he and the family move to a farm in a rural setting.
By now Jenny has accepted the mischievous Marley as part of their family but soon discovers that the ageing dog is beginning to suffer from a number of serious health conditions requiring John to have him put down.
Frankel’s direction of ‘Marley and Me’ is simply superb and is much more than a story about a man and his dog as depicted in some of the moving scenes infused within an enjoyable storyline.
Moreover, it is a captivating movie in its realistic portrayal of the life of a married couple coping with a growing family and their 100-pound dog, right until its tearful conclusion some twenty years later.
Apart from Wilson’s portrayal as Jenny’s devoted husband, Aniston delivers one of her best performances, capturing the emotions and essence necessary in her part as a wife, a mother and dog owner.
This movie is not solely about the dog but how the dog becomes a lovable pest as the family grows and matures along the way – which makes it a gem of a movie worth watching.
Vic’s Verdict: 4 Stars
Marley and Me is being televised on Channel 9 at 8.30pm on Friday 29 October.
