2008 depressing comedyRating: 9/20 (Mother-in-law: 15/20; Jen: 11/20; Dylan: 12/20; Emma: 12/20; Abbey: 20/20)
Rating: Two fairly boring people get married and start scratching items off their goals list. They get newspaper jobs, buy a house, find themselves a dog, and start their family.
I loathed this movie. It's essentially the Cliff Notes version of marriage and family, like a two hour montage with the occasional montage-within-a-montage. It drags. If it's a comedy (I honestly couldn't tell; there are some moments that are supposed to be funny), then it's criminally unfunny. If it's a straight drama, it's predictable and sickeningly manipulative. The story progresses exactly as you figure it would complete with an ending that, if you've ever seen another movie with a dog's name in the title, you'll know before even popping the movie in the dvd player. Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson collect their paychecks although they do nothing to create authentic characters or inject a little life into these characters we're supposed to identify with, pull for, appreciate, experience. This is just filled with so much clumsy sentimentality. The quick way it tosses in mid-life crisis or postpartum depression and then yanks it back almost with an "Oops! Excuse me. That shouldn't be in there. Let me show you some more mildly humorous dog slapstick stuff instead!" attitude is borderline offensive. It wasn't my idea to watch this, but I sure expected to enjoy it at least a little bit. At least the dogs were good. And by the way, this is nowhere near a movie that most parents will want their children seeing. It really makes me wonder if Owen Wilson started feeling depressed after filming Marley and Me, maybe seeing it as the beginning of the end of his career. Awful movie.
6 comments:
Here we go... I really liked this movie. If I wanted to go into this very cynically, I might buy into some of what you say, but show me a movie that can't be viewed as manipulative. I take this film at face value (especially since it is based on a book).
I like Owen Wilson. I like that he refuses, beyond all logic, to get a nose-job. I like Aniston. She is a very screwed up woman in real life, but a natural comedienne. I liked the dog and his antics. I also knew how it was going to end, but I thought the film did a great job of being realistic and not milking it. "Marley and Me" is a nice mixture of charm, and characters dealing with difficult life decisions. I wouldn't call it a great film, but giving it a 6 is ridiculous and says a lot more about you than the movie. Not getting enough sleep these days? A 15.
Jen also hated it. I asked her later if her 14 was just because her mom was in the room.
This movie is tripe, and I don't usually say things like this, but you should be embarrassed for liking it at all.
I usually do like Wilson, even when he's just in movies to get those paychecks (the ones with Jackie Chan, the museum movies). Not here though. He doesn't even look like he wants to be in this movie. Nothing he does is funny, charming, realistic. And, believe it or not, I actually like Aniston. But here, she is not funny at all, her charm is missing, and I don't buy it when she's trying to be mean or sad.
This movie could have almost been a direct-to-video release. I know it did really well in theaters and probably is doing really well in dvd sales, but I think it sucks.
Wow, that was fast. I just wrote this, and was regretting the "ridiculous" comment. These are just opinions, so I retract that and will call it even for the "should be embarrassed" crack. Nice to have you back, by the way. I was kind of bored without you.
Yeah, "you should be embarrassed" is taking it a little too far. It was typed tongue-in-cheekly though.
They need a "tongue in cheek" equivalent for the electronic age. That doesn't make much sense with typing.
Ok, ok...I was walking my dog yesterday and started thinking about how mother-in-law's presence hurt this movie's chances a little bit. I still think it's an awful movie, but a 6/20, as you accurately accused me of, is ridiculous. I'm adjusting. I've also adjusted Jen's rating to her real rating.
Your honesty is an honor to your unpaid profession.
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