Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageMarley & Me (2008)
Director: David Frankel
Movie review
From Time Out London
With its child-friendly rating and top billing for an unruly golden Labrador, ‘Marley & Me’ leads one to expect a straightforward saga of man’s best friend. But this film is a more complicated animal. Although it hardly stints on Marley’s mischief-making appetite for frolicking naughtiness and chomping on just about anything he can get between his incisors, it’s mostly a bittersweet portrait of a couple settling down to family life and feeling like they’ve sold out on their youthful ambitions.Owen Wilson (carrying his own baggage of off-screen melancholia) plays the real-life Miami journo whose series of popular columns on life with a four-legged miscreant got the ball rolling. Meanwhile, Jennifer Aniston is a sympathetic match as the reporter girlfriend-turned-spouse who leaves work to raise their kids after juggling both proves a nightmare.
With its peachy star casting and impeccably art-directed lifestyles, the latest from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ director David Frankel is too glossy to cut very deep, but there’s a core of truth as we see a family coming to shape itself around the loveable pooch they initially bought as a child substitute, all the while squaring up career sacrifices against the restorative recompense of domesticity.
Marley himself (played by 22 different dogs, don’t you know!) frequently takes a back seat when work and childcare issues dominate the proceedings, but he looms large in a final reel that draws tears, and feels like it’s earned them. Evidently contrived and something of an ungainly hybrid, the film shares its canine protagonist’s facility for wearing down your resistance.
Author: Trevor Johnston
Time Out London issue 2012, Mar 12-18 2009
User reviews of this film
-
- Rebecca said...
- Posted on Apr 14 2009 10:03 Such a sweet film..and its also really funny! Definitely a must-see!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Rebecca said...
- Posted on Apr 14 2009 10:03 Such a sweet film..and its also really funny! Definitely a must-see!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Daniel Cullinane said...
- Posted on Apr 14 2009 09:31 Marley and me is a sweet,charming and touching family comedy which supplies some great peformances by the whole cast aswell.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Laura said...
-
Posted on Apr 13 2009 15:54
This film is FANTASTIC!
I definately recommend it to everyone!
It was funny at times :)
& i LOVED IT!
its a great story, and the ending makes me cry so if you do go make sure you pack some tissue's. i dont know about you but i love a good cry at films :D x - Report as inappropriate
-
- bethany dent said...
- Posted on Apr 13 2009 12:38 I LOVED THE FILM AND THE LABRADORS!!! But I cryed at the ent because it is really sad. I felt sorry for the children at the end but it is just a story.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- bethany dent said...
- Posted on Apr 13 2009 12:38 I LOVED THE FILM AND THE LABRADORS!!! But I cryed at the ent because it is really sad. I felt sorry for the children at the end but it is just a story.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- bethany dent said...
- Posted on Apr 13 2009 12:38 I LOVED THE FILM AND THE LABRADORS!!! But I cryed at the ent because it is really sad. I felt sorry for the children at the end but it is just a story.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- sophie howells said...
- Posted on Apr 12 2009 17:30 I saw it with ma fam I think it was brill but i cried at the end
- Report as inappropriate
-
- H-'! said...
- Posted on Apr 12 2009 16:32 i didnt enjoy the film tbhh and if you havent seen it yet dont go any futher down it will ruin it but even though i didnt enjoy it my bro and his gf loved it they sed it was good i think i wass just to young to find it intersting :/ it was ok
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Ed said...
- Posted on Apr 12 2009 16:21 I though this film was excellent and so did my girlfriend, i actually cried
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Miss Amy Holloway said...
-
Posted on Apr 11 2009 18:58
Omg I Loved This Film
The Actors Are Amazing I Actually Thought I Was In The Film
Its Soo Sad I Actually Cried
EXCELLENT
Miss Amy Holloway xx - Report as inappropriate
-
- Kate said...
- Posted on Apr 11 2009 13:25 Practically everyone reviewing has mentioned the ending even before I put up my review. It's obvious that is what is going to happen anyway. Agree about Owen Wilson, he has zero screen appeal.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- sarah said...
-
Posted on Apr 10 2009 22:29
marley and me was very enjoyable
i throught the dog was very funny
at the end it as really sad and almost all of the every person was cryig i the cinema when the dog died at the end i found it vey upsetting and i was nearly crying aswell
i loved this film and i throught some bits it was funny
and i would defo go and seeit again (: - Report as inappropriate
-
- jess said...
- Posted on Apr 10 2009 20:32 O.k everyone is entitled to an opinionbut trash talking only makes any one that comments like that sound rather pathetic!I think the film is ace but if you didn't like it read the book it has smore capacity for description.If unsure read page 40 that is what my english teacher told me 'cause if you don't like it then you most likely wont at all. :)
- Report as inappropriate
-
- jess said...
- Posted on Apr 10 2009 20:24 O.k everyone has an opinion but there is no need to ruin it for others, if you think it sucks maybe you will find the book better as it has more capacity for description.Thats how i always find it,but the film for me still is awsome! :)
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: David Frankel
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Kathleen Turner, Alan Arkin, Eric Dane, Nathan Gamble, Haley Bennett full cast
Rated: PG
Duration: 115 mins
UK Release: Mar 13 2009
US Release: Dec 25 2008
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now