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Marley & Me -- SPOILER INCLUDED

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by OnTheRiver, Dec 25, 2008.

  1. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Took the wife to see M&M the other night. She sobbed, as did the other 300 or so people in attendance. The woman to my left must have blown her nose about eight times in the last 10 minutes of the movie. Children were weeping loudly. One was downright hysterical.

    I'll never again say, "Geez. It's just a dog." Not that I said it a lot to begin with.

    Anyway, I enjoyed the movie. Laughed out loud several times. The wife read the book last week and said there were a bunch of missing parts/inconsistencies. I'm sure I'll read it eventually. Right after I finish Dr. Leary's book.
     
  2. Wenders

    Wenders Well-Known Member

    The dog lives to be 13? That makes me sad, my lab's going to be 13 in a month and isn't exactly in the best health.

    Of course, as I write this, I see the trailer on my TV for the movie. Not going to see it, mostly because I'm not a big Owen Wilson fan, but I might eventually get the book when I feel up to a good cry. It's one of those books like P.S. I Love You - if you know what happens, you have to be in the right mood to read it.
     
  3. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Regardless of the quality of the film, doesn't anyone else sort of feel like the whole thing is kind of cynical and manipulative? Any modern day movie that uses the death of a pet or a child as its emotional climax -- especially if it's a comercial movie -- annoys me. I'm reminded of the opening section of The Corrections when Chip is trying to get his students to understand that the company's use of ads featuring a woman dying of breast cancer is the ultimate form of cynicism for profit, and none of the kids give a shit. They're just sad for the (fake) woman in the ads. I guess I feel a little differently about the book, Marley and Me, than the movie, Marley and Me, because you can make the argument that it works because it's a story told more for the sake of story than money, but I feel in some respects like Buzz Bissinger does about Grogan: That he wrote "Tuesday's With Morrie, The Dog." And most of us are extremely cynical about Albom's motives for writing that way.
     
  4. StormSurge

    StormSurge Active Member

    I read the majority of the book on a plane, but stopped when I realized what was coming. I was a blubbering fool (more than normal at least) in my hotel room that night.
     
  5. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I found that scene frighteningly realistic.
     
  6. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    saw it today. it's not bad. owen still seems like he's in the bell jar. aniston was ok.

    i haven't had a dog in 20 years. that said, it didn't move me as much as i thought it might. but i'd watch it again.

    alan arkin was miscast altogether.
     
  7. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    saw it today. it's not bad. owen still seems like he's in the bell jar. aniston was ok.

    i haven't had a dog in 20 years. that said, it didn't move me as much as i thought it might. but i'd watch it again.

    alan arkin was miscast altogether.
     
  8. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    This sort of reminds me of parents taking their kids to see March of the Penguins.
     
  9. Double Down:
    It's a true story. The dog died. Were they supposed to change the facts?

    I'm waiting to hear from someone who saw the movie who had already read the book. Sonner's wife's comment is exactly what I'm afraid of.
    I read the book and loved it. (Fought back sobs in the break room at work whilst reading the death chapter.) I'm very afraid - and the trailers have only heightened that fear - that the movie will severely let me down.
     
  10. Grimace

    Grimace Guest

    I can't wait for the sequel.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  11. terrier

    terrier Well-Known Member

    Went to the multiplex last night to see "Benjamin Button" and feared the sight of sobbing families throughout the parking lot and concourse. We were lucky - the families were all going to see "Bedtime Stories" instead.
    By the way, BB lived up to the hype. Don't know what we would've done if it sold out - this place didn't have "Milk" or "Frost/Nixon" yet.
     
  12. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    That's not what I asked for, and if you got back and read my post, you'll understand that. My point was about feeling uncomfortable at Hollywood's cynical manipulation, using a dog's death to make large sums of money.
     
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