EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY: The new film, in which Owen Wilson gets a troublesome dog, is a surprise tearjerker.
Director: David Frankel
The movie opens with a newly wedded couple running through the streets in a blizzard. Not your typical opening scene, but one which hints at the blizzard of a life to come for the two, after getting a dog, Marley 's "the world's worst dog."
This delightful piece of celluloid chronicles life after getting Marley, a clearance dog as a sort of preparation for a baby, and the hectic life that follows.
Owen Wilson as John plays an almost Jimmy Stewart-esque persona with his simple, unruffled demeanor. Jennifer Aniston, as Jennifer, is the more negative and practical of the two, but the relationship seems to balance out in the long run.
This movie is classic to the core, despite a depressing blip in the middle that takes the audience back to our time. There's no overt sexual scenes and evil villains, just one crazy dog.
Marley's antics include eating an answering machine, destroying drywall, knocking over various people and generally tearing things up.
The film takes the audience back to a time when movies were simpler. Just about life, and the little things. No striving to become a millionaire, just a mere snapshot into a life and the amusing things that happen in it.
This movie makes me wish there was another genre of film, something that would classify a "life snapshot." There are some funny moments which would put it into the ever widening category of "comedy," but there are also some dramatic and sad moments.
Though the movie spans over 10 years of their lives, with kids, and jobs and moving to a new city, it never leaves the original "Marley and Me" storyline. It truly is about a man and his dog.
This movie isn't so much for those who want to escape to another world, but for those who would like to remember when times were simpler. It is for those who want a little slice of life in a world where money seems to rule all.
I cried more during this movie than most other tear-jerkers I've seen. Although I'm sure the movie makers did not intend to make the movie a tear-jerker, sometimes life just makes you cry.
The last scene sums it up best, when Owen Wilson says that "a dog has no use for fancy things, designer clothes etc. 's a water logged stick will do just fine. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about?"
Opens 3/13 in Estonia and Lithuania 3/20 in Latvia
