Marley & Me (2008)

Directed by: David Frankel | 116 minutes | drama, comedy, family, romance | Actors: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner, Alan Arkin, Nathan Gamble, Haley Bennett, Clarke Peters, Finley Jacobsen, Lucy Merriam, Bryce Robinson, Benjamin Hyland, Sarah O’Kelley, Keith Hudson, Haley Hudson, Tom Irwin, Alec Mapa, Sandy Martin, Joyce Van Patten, Zabryna Guevara, Megan Mazaika, Haley Higgins, Ana Ayora, Matthew J. Walters, Nicole Herold, Paul Tei, Natalie Miller, Gaston Renaud, Angelina Assereto, Emmett Robin, Lisa Varga, Dylan Henry, Stephen Lee Davis, Michael Baskin

Director David Frankel made his name with his reasonably successful comedy ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2007), which won him two Oscar nominations. With ‘Marley & Me’ he moves into slightly more moderate territory; the subject is a bit more obvious and the humor modest, as is the drama for that matter. What Americans call comedy is all too often just drama with a lighter tone. And that’s what ‘Marley & Me’ is. Like Judd Apatow’s 2007 ‘Knocked Up’, ‘Marley & Me’ relies mainly on fairly normal family complications. It is therefore a real family film, which appeals not so much to laughter as to recognition, and therein lies its strength.

The story goes from one problem to another and meanwhile everyone is getting older and more mature, just like in real life. It gives ‘Marley & Me’ a fairly realistic tone, but from a positive perspective. The recognition is in the ordinary: how an average couple with a somewhat busy dog ​​as a pet, sometimes makes difficult choices that have to be made in every normal life. However, people do live in a fat house with a swimming pool, which is apparently also ‘common’ in America, or at least according to Hollywood. Owen Wilson plays John, who struggles to embrace his adult responsibilities, but whose life is actually going well. Like Adam Sandler, for example, Wilson rarely plays a real loser (not here either). Wilson’s character is less extreme in this film than in others, but he is nevertheless convincing. As well as his co-star Aniston, who has now really outgrown her ‘Friends’ image and whom we as an actress are gradually allowed to take seriously. The dog, Marley, obviously plays an important role in this film, and pushes the children’s role into the background in such a way that they hardly get the chance to create a character. This is a minus in the movie.

For the rest it is mainly well written. The dog, despite playing an important role in John and Jenny’s lives, is above all a pacesetter for the couple’s growth into adulthood. The complications surrounding his rebellious character keep the realism light, so that we sympathize and the moderate drama does not become too boring. This keeps the film entertaining from start to finish without being superficial.