THE MAGAZINE

MARLY AND ME

Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston and a neurotic dog fail to get some laughs in the canine comedy.

Marly and Me is a film about a dog. It is, as they say, based on a true story: Marley really existed and his owner, John Grogan (played by Owen Wilson), wrote a book about him. Marley, he claimed, was "the worst dog in the world". This is difficult to belive on the basis of the evidence in Marley and Me, in which the dog is disobedient, destroys furniture and is scared of thunder... all of which seems like perfectly normal behaviour for a dog. Certainly, it is not so bizarre that it justifies making a film about the creature - especially a film that lasts two and a half hours, which is about half and hour longer than Casablanca. Take my advice and watch Casablanca- it has the Second World War, a beautiful love story, and some of the greatest dialogue ever. True, it does not have a cannine in a major role, but you will still have 30 minutes left in which to go to the park and watch some dogs.