December 29 - Marley and Me

MARLEY AND ME               DECEMBER 29                           Drama/Comedy

John Grogan had a dog while growing up. After his marriage to Jenny they move from Michigan to Miami and get jobs at competing newspapers. Jenny soon gets major stories, while he gets stuck with obituaries and such. When Jenny hints about wanting to have kids, John’s friend Sebastian suggests he get her a dog to take care of. They adopt a Labrador retriever and name him Marley. He soon turns out to be a disobedient dog. John is pressured into writing a twice-weekly column, even though he really wants to write hard news. Marley is so poorly behaved that he is expelled from a dog obedience school and also almost kills himself and the Grogans by leaping out of the car on the way to be neutered. Marley’s antics provide much of the material for John’s increasingly popular column. Jenny gets pregnant, but loses the baby early in her pregnancy. They go to Ireland on a second honeymoon, but Marley terrifies the dog sitter, who can’t control him during the thunderstorms that occur frequently in south Florida. Jenny gets pregnant again and has two boys in succession. After a neighbor is stabbed in a robbery they move to a more expensive and safer neighborhood. John reluctantly agrees to write a daily column to get his salary doubled. Jenny gets postpartum depression and feels overwhelmed. She insists they give Marley away, but later relents. Sebastian meanwhile lands a job with the New York Times, the apex of a newspaper reporter’s career as far as John is concerned. With Jenny’s blessing he takes a news reporter’s job in Philadelphia, but soon realizes he’s a better columnist than reporter. Marley, who is 14 by this time, has an attack of gastric dilation volvus and almost dies. When he has a second attack the vet says he would not survive surgery. John decides to have Marley euthanized on December 29, 2003 [1:40:08 to 1:48:24]. The family buries him in their front yard.

A sweet and funny story. It functions both as the story of a marriage and a dog movie. Both Anniston and Wilson give very natural performances here.

Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan (Collins, New York, 2007) at page 178 gives his death date

Producers - Karen Rosenfelt and Gil Netter

Director - David Frankel                               

Screenplay - Scott Frank and Don Roos                        

Runtime – 2 hours 1 minute                                                                                                                                    

Released – December 25, 2008

Starring –

Owen Wilson as John Grogan

Jennifer Aniston as Jenny Grogan

Eric Dane as Sebastian Tunney

Alan Arkin as Arnie Klein

Haley Hudson as Debbie

Kathleen Turner as Ms. Kornblut

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.