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Title: Marley & Me (2008)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Owen Wilson | ... | John | |
| Jennifer Aniston | ... | Jenny | |
| Eric Dane | ... | Sebastian | |
| Kathleen Turner | ... | Ms. Kornblut | |
| Alan Arkin | ... | Arnie Klein | |
| Nathan Gamble | ... | Patrick (Age 10) | |
| Haley Bennett | ... | Lisa | |
| Ann Dowd | ... | Dr. Platt | |
| Clarke Peters | ... | Editor | |
| Finley Jacobsen | ... | Conor (Age 8) | |
 |
Lucy Merriam | ... | Colleen (Age 5) |
| Bryce Robinson | ... | Patrick (Age 7) | |
| Ben Hyland | ... | Conor (Age 5) | |
| Sarah O'Kelly | ... | Neighbor Mom (Nurse) | |
| Keith Hudson | ... | Big Guy | |
After their wedding, newspaper writers John and Jennifer Grogan move to Florida. In an attempt to stall Jennifer's "biological clock", John gives her a puppy. While the puppy Marley grows into a 100 pound dog, he loses none of his puppy energy or rambunctiousness. Meanwhile, Marley gains no self-discipline. Marley's antics give John rich material for his newspaper column. As the Grogans mature and have children of their own, Marley continues to test everyone's patience by acting like the world's most impulsive dog. Written by Ken Miller <wkmiller704@yahoo.com>
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There seems to be a consensus of opinion here that, if you dislike this film it is simply because you're not a dog person and therefore you'll not "get" this film. For the record I don't have a dog but did grow up with a dog and like them (while also liking cats). What I don't have is a willingness to access my own emotions and memories in order to use them to make up for the inadequacy of the film – which, with all due respect, a lot of people seem to be doing when they talk about why they love the film. So I understand what it is to have a dog as a companion, to have the good and the bad and to have that be an emotional part of one's live. The problem I have with the film is that I'm not convinced the people who make the film do – or rather I'm not convinced they know how to put that into a script and then put it on the screen.
I say this because the narrative here is a really simple story of a family – and there is nothing wrong with that, it is about life rather than a specific set of events that lead to one another on the way to a dramatic conclusion. However without an engaging and convincing heart to the film then this just comes over like a superficial scenario put together with "music video" moments and no depth or complexity to the lives on which the film relies. To help with the emotion we have lots of "safe accessible" pop songs used in the soundtrack – something that says "packaging" and "market targeting" more than it does "film making"; of course any scene with emotion is loaded with manipulative music to draw the emotion – and, if you're into it then perhaps it will work but it is hard to avoid just how superficial it is.
The casting confirms this as the beautiful blonde leads are both bland as sin and do not convince as characters or as a couple. It doesn't help that the film doesn't even attempt to age them physically and that the script does little to age their spirits. Wilson does his usual stuff but, without the comedy that usually makes his personae works, he is quite poor and he cannot do the emotions that the basic events of his character's life ask him to deliver. Aniston is just as weak and is badly cast – her figure and looks working against her while she tries to use her words only to convince us that she is a mother of three and going through real challenges. The dog itself is good at being cute but personally I struggled to really see what it was they loved in it – probably because the script only gives me comedy events rather than a family with the dog at the heart of it.
Marley & Me will get better with time – not because history will judge it well but rather because it will move out of cinemas, onto DVD and eventually reach its true home on Wednesday afternoons on a network like Hallmark. For those that love those daytime movies then you should like this but for the majority of viewers this will be far too superficial and bland to really impact.