Aww, look at that cute, fluffy puppy in those "Marley & Me" ads. He's so sweet and innocent with those pleading eyes and that shiny, red bow around his neck. It almost makes you think you're in for a feel-good comedy about a rambunctious yellow Lab and the family who loves him no matter what chaos he causes.
Well, "Marley & Me" is all that, but if you've read the best-selling memoir by John Grogan that inspired the movie, you also know that it has more than its share of hanky moments -- we're talking grown men and women snuffling and sobbing uncontrollably. Seeing the ending, in all its horrifically sad detail, is bad enough if you're a grown-up (and a dog person). If you're a little kid expecting a happy puppy movie, "Marley & Me" could cause serious trauma.
While it's effective in its ability to evoke emotion, it's not a particularly good movie. Director David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada") leaps back and forth in blandly episodic fashion between the incorrigible Marley doing wacky, destructive things and his owners, journalists John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), furthering their lives as a married couple and, ultimately, as parents. And that's a shame, because Grogan's book was a rich, rollicking recollection of a life lived.
Despite their sunny, blonde looks, Wilson (at 40) and Aniston (at 39) feel too old to be playing young newlyweds starting a life together at the beginning of "Marley & Me," and their playful marital banter seems forced. It took 22 dogs to play Marley, though, at various ages and sizes. For that part, the casting was always perfect.
• In wide release
Additional Information:'Marley & Me'
Rated PG, for thematic material, some suggestive content and language;
(out of four)
