The Nurturer, America's Sweetheart and a Hyperactive Golden Lab Walk into a Bar

    And what do you end up with? A pretty good dog movie.

    And that is exactly what we wound up with after a short night out Friday night. My wife loves our dogs probably more than she does the kids and - strike that: she probably loves them as much as she does the kids - no need to get hyperbolic here - so I rented "Marley and Me" for her on Friday afternoon from our local Blockbuster, when I was out doing my banking.

    And I'm not about to lie here - it was difficult holding her off until 9:00 PM. After the film, she said it was worth the wait. I have to agree. "Marley and Me" works as a dog movie, a couples movie and as an ultimately, and, inextricably, a family movie.

    Owen Wilson, "the Nurturer" as he is in almost every movie he does, is as much the center of this film as is Marley, the "Golden Lab." Wilson plays John Grogan, a much underestimated wannabe reporter, who ultimately becomes a columnist: writing interesting stories about his life, and mostly the rambunctious Marley, with the urging of his curmudgeon editor, played in hilarious deadpan by one of my favorites - Alan Arkin. John Grogan tells the story of "Marley and Me" in the first person, and yeah, you guessed it here, John Grogan wrote the novel of the same title.

    Screenwriters; Scott Frank and Don Roos are admirable in their construction of some smart dialogue, and along with Director David Frankel are careful in keeping the story relevant to what is real, without going overboard in the sentimentality sector. In fact, the story works for a variety of ages and intellects, providing of course, that one's heart is not the consistency of stone.

    The actors; besides Marley, Owen Wilson and Alan Arkin, and heretofore unmentioned "America's Sweetheart," Jennifer Anniston as Jennifer Grogan, and Eric Dane as John Grogan's journalist buddy and serial womanizer, Sebastion, are quite good. John and Jennifer's three children, as we are politely invited to visit with the Grogans as their family evolves, are central to the story in that they represent the complexities of a fully functional loving family.

    All other unmentioned actors here were merely backdrops to the story, and that's just fine. The story doesn't suffer and the 115 minutes of runtime is time well spent. My wife especially thought so.

    Rated PG. Release on DVD March 31, 2009.