Vintage

Soon after their wedding, John and Jenny Grogan hightail out of the cold Michigan winters  and set up family shop in a southern Florida neighborhood.  They are hired as reporters for newspapers. At The Palm Beach Post, Jenny immediately receives prominent front-page assignments, while at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, John finds himself writing obituaries and two-paragraph articles about mundane news like fires at the local garbage dumps.  Not sure how they even pay the house on the obit writing job. 

When John senses Jenny is contemplating motherhood, his friend and co-worker Sebastian Tunney suggests the couple get a dog to see if they're ready to raise a family. From a litter of newborn yellow Labrador retrievers they select one who they name after Bob Marley.  The dog immediately proves to be one of the worst you can image.

He pees everywhere.  He destroys things.  He is undisciplined.  He eats rapaciously (not too unlike I was in college).

They go so far as to bring him to a buxom dog trainer, who firmly believes any dog can be properly trained.  However, when Marley refuses to obey commands, she kicks the dog and its owners out of her class.

Editor Arnie Klein offers John a twice-weekly column in which he can discuss the fun and foibles of everyday living. At first stumped for material, John realizes the misadventures of Marley might be the perfect topic for his first piece.  Arnie agrees, and John settles into his new position.

Marley and Me turns out to be a lot more touching than I thought from watching the previews.  It darn near is like an "Old Yeller" kind of movie: lovable dog; very sad ending. 

In the end, the dog proves to be a great window into the lives of its owners.  Only in retrospect do the owners come to see that.  As life went on, the dog was there the whole time, paying attention and wagging its tail.  Marley and Me is above average, well-put-together, touching; a funny film worthy of a King.