Marley & Me

Marley & Me casts Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as John and Jennifer Grogan, a newly-married couple whose decision to adopt an energetic Labrador Retriever ultimately impacts their lives in a far more pronounced manner than they might’ve expected. Director David Frankel, working from Scott Frank and Don Roos’ screenplay, has infused Marley & Me with an unabashedly episodic structure that ensures certain segments and interludes are more effective than others, with the movie’s lighthearted and thoroughly appealing opening hour inevitably offset by an almost incongruously dark stretch revolving around John and Jennifer’s marital problems. The better-than-anticipated work from Wilson and Aniston certainly goes a long towards alleviating the relatively inconsistent atmosphere, and it’s impossible, surely, to understate the effectiveness of the gleefully eccentric supporting cast (with Alan Arkin’s turn as John’s grouchy but loveable boss an obvious highlight). It’s also worth noting that the film boasts several stand-out sequences (eg Marley leads a leashless charge on a dog-friendly beach) that firmly buoy one’s interest even through the less-than-enthralling midsection, although it’s not until the narrative moves into its final act that Marley & Me starts to morph into an engrossing and downright moving piece of work – with the movie’s final half hour packing a far more emotional punch than one might’ve anticipated. There’s ultimately little doubt that the strength of the finale effectively elevates everything that preceded it, and it is, as such, quite clear that the film is destined to join the ranks of such affecting dog-centric endeavors as Old Yeller and My Dog Skip.

***1/2 out of ****