I’m currently more than proud to be penning this review, as’Marley & Me’ is my personal ’Veggie Soup for the troubled-frivolous-wanna-b-taken-seriously-i-have-no-boyfriend Souls’(I don’t like explaining puns).Needless to say, I’m a primary member of the club.Girls/Ladies/Females like me many a times fail to realise the brighter side of every situation.That’s where we need to turn to animals to know the meaning of true happiness.Based on the best-selling book by John Grogan, the film sheds light on John & his wife, Jenny coupled with their famous pet dog, Marley modestly named after Bob Marley by John himself.
John Grogan(Owen Wilson) & Jenny Grogan(Jennifer Aniston) are newlyweds who’ve just moved to Southern California.Both of them are journalists for newspapers, although Jenny seems first to have the upper hand with her vocation.She covers prominent front-page items whereas John’s stuck doing the obituaries.Like any other married woman, Jenny wants to have children.John is not keen on the idea, as he feels having kids too soon in a marriage will disrupt their love for each other.His trusted colleague, Sebastian Tunney(Eric Dane) suggests getting Jenny a puppy to pacify her ’motherly emotions’.John & Jenny finally purchase a clearance sale yellow labrador retriever aka Marley.As the couple soon come to find out, Marley’s a huge eater along with being the naughtiest puppy ever alive!The duo try enrolling Marley in a discipline school.But being the menace he is, the instructor kicks him out.Meanwhile John’s editor, Arnie Klein(Alan Arkin) asks him to write a column on the trials & tribulations of daily life.Marley soon becomes an integral part of John’s writing & the newspapers begin flying off the shelves.Impressed at the feat, Arnie befriends John & the two hit it well.Even though Marley’s called the ’World’s Worst Dog’, he creates a deep impression on John & Jenny.He sticks with his loveable owners through all their joys & sorrows including miscarriage, childbirth, child raising, household arguements, moving to a new home, getting a new job & growing older.When the Grogans move to Pennsylvania, John is overcome by depression on leaving his previous editor, Arnie.At his new job, his colleagues don’t happen to be as friendly.Moreso, John feels ’aged’.Jenny sticks to her joyful spirits & helps boost her husband’s self esteem.Unfortunately, dogs age much faster compared to humans.When Marley’s condition gets serious, the Grogans are distraught.
The film easily changes it’s tracks from being funny to emotional.John & Jenny’s relationship helps one understand why love plays the foundation for a stable marriage.Marley teaches the couple to emrace each other’s flaws & accept their puppy for who he really is.Jennifer Aniston & Owen Wilson are so brilliant in this film, that one can’t point out that they are ’acting’.The scenes when John convinces Jenny to forget about her miscarriage & go on a homeymoon, where Jenny complains about motherhood to John while he patiently listens, when John realises he no more has anything in common with Sebastian, when Jenny asks John to stop feeling old, when John’s crying at Marley’s operation & finally Marley’s funeral stand out for me.David Frankel, the director has conveyed the message well without overwrought dialogues.I haven’t read John Grogan’s novel under the same name, but I have heard excellent things about it.Hence, it’s not viable for me to compare the two versions right now.
Final grade- A+, a must watch.This movie caters to all ages & the sensitivity of a well-loved dying pet is handled gracefully