![]() ![]() The value of the story is that it is so completely typical. Journalists John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) move up the professional ladder, make life-defining tradeoffs between work and personal satisfaction, raise children and enter middle age. “Marley” cleverly uses the life span of a couple’s pet to illustrate the passages that mark their relationship. There’s a good deal more to the story, though. ![]() (Three-quarters of them are variations on chewing valuables, and they work fine.) And there are plenty of moments that are simply physical comedy, which stand or fall on their ability to get a laugh. Those unfamiliar with the book may come to “Marley” anticipating a canine comedy, an expectation encouraged by the film’s advertising, which is heavy on adorable canine high jinks. Director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada”) adapts John Grogan’s sentimental best-seller with no artistic pretensions beyond alternately making you feel like your heart is caving in, then injecting you with a gigantic syringe of good cheer. “Marley & Me” is shamelessly manipulative yet undeniably effective. “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is,” Noel Coward observed, and the same goes for movies. ![]()
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