Marley & Me is everything you could want in a holiday movie -- family friendly, touching, funny. Plus, it's surprisingly intelligent and real. It may be the best family film of the year.
Comment
12/24/08
Marley & Me (2008)
61
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:123
Fresh:75
Rotten:48
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Pet owners should love it, but Marley and Me is only sporadically successful in wringing drama and laughs from its scenario.
Theatrical Release:11-03-2009
Synopsis: The filmmakers behind THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA take on another bestseller in the family film MARLEY AND ME. Based on the hit memoir by John Grogan, MARLEY AND ME chronicles the relationship of John... [More]
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Alan Arkin
Director: David Frankel
Reviews for Marley & Me
When Marley is not on the screen, Wilson and Aniston demonstrate why they are gifted comic actors. They have a relationship that's not too sitcomish, not too sentimental, mostly smart and realistic.
12/24/08
Top CriticThe movie never captures the crucial leap that made the book a hit. It's never Marley & Us.
12/24/08
Need a shortcut to manipulate an audience's emotions? Always go with the dog.
12/24/08
Relentlessly sentimental tearjerker succeeds solely on the charm of its stars on two and four legs.
12/24/08
The book, like the movie it inspired, is a sweet, surprisingly moving chronicle of a young couple's struggle to simultaneously build a family, advance their careers and maintain their sanity.
12/24/08
A convincing argument that having a loving spouse, a supportive family, a house with a white picket fence, and most of all a frisky pup, are the closest we get to Eden.
12/23/08
Hell is Marley & Me.
12/23/08
Marley & Me proves how lifeless Lady and the Tramp would have been if told from the p.o.v. of Jim Dear and Darling.
12/23/08
Pull back the intense tear-jerking and layers of sitcom filmmaking, and you're left with a movie with amazingly little in the way of dramatic nutrition or organic sentiment.
12/23/08
Despite having been labored over by sharp screenwriters Scott Frank and Don Roos, Marley & Me feels like She's Having a Baby with some Marmaduke cartoons grafted onto it.
12/23/08
The book has been known to make grown men weep. But seeing the movie, you can't help but feel had.
12/23/08
The nonthreatening adorableness of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson is no match for the emotional range of Marley.
12/23/08
As flavoloress as the kitchen floor Marley can't resist chewing.
12/23/08
Just another innocuous character dramedy that might have been handled better if done independently.
12/23/08
Here, there's no great momentum, just a long, flat arc toward the inevitable.
12/22/08
Seldom does a studio release feature so little drama -- and not much comedy either, other than when the dog clowns around.
12/22/08
Top CriticWatching the stars try to out-cutesy the mutt is one for the puke bucket.
12/22/08
This perky, episodic film is as broad and obvious as it could be, but delivers on its own terms thanks to sparky chemistry between its sunny blond stars, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, and the unabashed emotion-milking of the final reel.
12/22/08
Top CriticNever has the phrase 'you'll laugh, you'll cry' been more truthful. Families looking for an old fashioned, all-purpose, comedy with heart will flock to this offering that's best described as a canine Terms Of Endearment.
12/22/08
Latest News for Marley & Me
March 17, 2009:
Marley & Me Dominates Foreign Box Office 
The story about a family and their dog takes down Watchmen with a $13.9m haul in its first international weekend. More...
January 04, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Still #1 and Races Past $100M
Moviegoers caught up on those holiday films they didn't see over Christmas weekend as the top seven films finished in the exact same slots as last weekend with the dog drama... More...
December 28, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Takes #1, The Spirit Tanks
This weekend people were in the mood for movies over Christmas weekend as multiplexes were jam-packed with customers that powered four different new releases to more than $30M... More...
December 23, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Benjamin Button Rewards the Curious; It's Bedtime for Bedtime Stories
This week at the movies, we've got a full slate of new flicks: Bedtime Stories, starring Adam Sandler and Keri Russell; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt... More...
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