Marley and Me is a drama - comedy released in 2008. The film was based on John Grogan’s novel Marley & Me. This memoir book is about their family dog Marley and became a best selling book in 2005. The screenplay based on the novel was written by Scott Frank and Don Roos. The film was directed by David Frankel. The film’s classification is Parental Guidance because of mild violence and sex references. The running time is 115 minutes.
About the director ----------------------- David Frankel is an American film director, producer and screenplay writer. He directed the comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada in 2006. Right after this film he directed Marley and Me which was released in December 2008 and became a best seller DVD immediately.
Main cast: ------------- Jennifer Aniston – Jenny Grogan Owen Wilson – John Grogan 22 yellow Labradors – Marley Eric Dane – Sebastian Tunney
The plot ----------- After their wedding Jenny tells John her plan to move to a warmer place than Michigan. They move to southern Florida where Jenny gets a job as a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. She accompanies John to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel where John has an interview. He gets a reporter job too. Both of them
are reporters at competing newspapers. Jenny’s next point in her plan is to find a house. They move into a nice cottage.
A few weeks later Jenny wants to have a child but John is not prepared to it yet. He tells his friend and co-worker Sebastian Tunney who suggests getting a puppy to see whether they are ready to raise a family or not. As Jenny’s birthday was approaching John brought her to a farm where there were several newborn yellow Labrador retrievers. Jenny has chosen a little one and they had to go back to pick him up after 3 weeks as he was too young. Jenny had to go away due to her job but they picked the puppy up together first and then she left. After she left the puppy was sitting in the front seat of the car and from the radio we could hear Bob Marley’s One Love reggae song. John tried to call the puppy Bob but the puppy preferred Marley.
While Jenny was away John and Marley tried to know each other. Marley was a very active and incorrigible little dog. As John was offered a twice-weekly column he searched for suitable topics when he found out to write about their adventurous dog Marley. Jenny becomes pregnant but they lost their first baby. They travel to Ireland for their belated honeymoon. They leave Marley to a young woman who faces an extremely big challenge to take care of Marley. In the meantime Jenny and John spend a few days in a cottage in Ireland.
When they arrive back Jenny realises that she is pregnant again. They have a son called Patrick. Jenny tries to find a balance between her job and being a good mom. She is depressed and impatient. Then she realises that she is pregnant again. What do they do? Watch the film and find out…
My opinion ---------------- It was a very moving and engaging film. There were several really funny plots in it but I have to admit that there were some tear jerker plots in it too.
Usually films with a dog and kids are great success so the recipe worked good again. I think it was a really good film. I loved its story and found Jenny’s situation very similar to mine. I have only two sons and no dog but I’m as busy and sometimes impatient as Jenny was in the film. I regret it but this is the truth. Watching I’m not alone in these shoes made me feel comfortable.
The film covers 14 years of the family Grogan and their dog Marley. I was wondering how they solved to have Marley growing old. They used 22 dogs in the role of Marley. They made an outstanding work because the difference wasn’t eye-catching. I prefer dogs to cats but I’m not a big animal fan. Actually I love them in their natural environment. I don’t feel need to have a dog on our own as I like to travel a lot and it is not very comfortable doing it with a pet. In this film Marley had really close relationship with the family members. That was too close for me.
I think both Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson acted brilliantly. I have seen Jennifer Aniston in several films in the past few weeks and her performance in this film made me think she is a great actress. She is beautiful, pretty and very talented. I know that this film is not an Oscar winner one but it won a Teen Choice Award in 2009.
Owen Wilson was seen previously in You, Me and Dupree. He is a very charming and talented actor. I liked the way he performed the role of John Grogan. I think he was authentic in this role. Both Jennifer and Owen acted very well the role of being parents.
I loved the soundtrack of this film, especially Bob Marley’s One Love. We could hear also Shiny Happy People of R.E.M. The music was in harmony with the actions in the film.
T sum up I loved this film. It was very emotional and engaging. I watch a lot of films these days as my left hand has to recover after the surgery and I can’t do almost anything else but resting. This film was outstanding and I highly recommend you watching it. The story is great and the performance of the leading actors is brilliant.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Christopher Ettridge, Victor McGuire, Emma Amos, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Elizabeth Carling
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
