Coffee and Film

Marley and Me is an American comedy drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. It is an awesome movie and I was spell-bound as some of the events were quite similar to what happens in our house. We also have a dog and after four years of him being our only baby, our daughter was born!

So anyone who wishes to enjoy the movie and is looking for a review first, the story goes like this. After their wedding, John and Jenny Grogan come to live in Florida where they are hired as correspondents by rival newspapers. While Jenny gets good work, John is somewhat bored of insignificant assignments.

John soon begins to sense that Jenny is craving for motherhood. He suggests that they get a dog first to know whether they are ready to take the responsibility of a family. They choose Marley, from the litter of yellow labs. He proves to be very naughty and hopeless though. They also take him to a trainer but she eventually expels him from the class.

Meanwhile the editor of John’s newspaper offers him a twice weekly column on travails of everyday living. John is at first in a dilemma but later thinks that the escapades of Marley would prove to be great material for the column. The editor agress.

Marley continues to wreck havoc in the household but this seems to be the perfect material for John column. People start liking his column so much that the circulation of the newspaper starts picking up. On the other hand, Jenny becomes pregnant but loses her child. The couple goes off to their belated honeymoon in Ireland and leave the dog with a young woman, but Marley is beyond any control!

After coming back from vacation, Jenny discovers that she is pregnant again and this time gives birth to a healthy boy Patrick. When she has a second son, Connor, she opts to give up her job and become a stay-at-home mom, and the couple decides to move to a larger house in the safer neighborhood of Boca Raton, where Marley delights in swimming in the backyard pool.

After two sons, John and Jenny also welcome a daughter, Colleen, to their family. Although she denies she is experiencing postpartum depression, Jenny exhibits all the symptoms. She starts growing impatient with Marley and John, who asks a friend to care for the dog when Jenny insists they give him away. She quickly comes to realize he has become an indispensable part of the family and agrees he can stay.

John celebrates his 40th birthday. Increasingly disenchanted with his job, he decides to accept a position as a reporter with The Philadelphia Inquirer. The family moves to a farm in rural Pennsylvania. Life is idyllic until the aging Marley begins to show signs of slowing down. When it becomes clear surgery will not help his debilitating condition, the dog is euthanised and buried.