Owen Wilson has always been comic relief staple. He and comedy go along so well we hardly get to see him outside of his comfort zone. Then all of a sudden you see him signed up for the film adaptation of Marley & Me. Based on John Grogan’s best-selling autobiographical book of the same name, here we see Wilson playing the author who writes about his life and living with Marley, the world’s worst dog.
Essentially still a comedy, the story revolves around John and his wife Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), a pair of newlywed journalists. Not too long after their marriage, John realises that he is not ready to handle the responsibility of fatherhood. With advice from his journalist friend Sebastian (Eric Dane), he decides to get Jenny a dog to delay having children. And what a dog he is. Right from the moment he is picked up (check out how ridiculously cute he is), Marley owns the screen.
A very bad dog in every sense of the word, there is no end to Marley’s antics. From tearing the house down to eating holes in the drive wall (yes, eating!), he is uncontrollable. He even makes a strict dog trainer (Kathleen Turner) who claims there are no bad dogs, take back her words. He does however, freak out when there is thunder, creating hell for a certain young caretaker when it stormed seven times during John and Jenny’s absence.
In spite of Marley’s actions, the movie is in essence a tale of the ups and downs of having a job and family. We follow John’s transition from being a simple writer to a permanent columnist and later on, working for a bigger paper.
We experience his working atmosphere with colleague Sebastian and editor Arnie (Alan Arkin), coping with the strains of marriage, bills, children, moving house and handling a hellish dog. And through it all, Marley was right by his side, never complaining, proving the age-old theory of dogs being a man’s best friend. The film is as honest as it gets, and could possibly be Wilson’s most sincere role to date.
Despite the almost inevitable risk of making this a cliché and corny movie, the film-makers have surprisingly added emotion, depth and realism to this flick. Comparisons to last year’s 10 Promises to My Dog are most probably coincidental. One was based on a poem and the other, a memoir, although both share the same breed of dog and similar ending, A sincere and heartwarming film, Marley & Me should appeal to all ages. Guys, show-off your sensitive side and bring your girl to this movie.
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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