December
26
Christmas Boxoffice and Review Check
The movie my family and I went to see on Christmas Day was chosen by many others over the holiday: Marley & Me, a cannily crafted family film starring a restrained Owen Wilson, a charming Jennifer Aniston and a series of delightful rambunctious Labrador retrievers as the titular dog, Marley. My family made fun of me for crying so hard.
Written by Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) and Scott Frank (Get Shorty) and directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada), this movie delivers both a romance between a handsome couple plus their relationship with their dog. This well-calibrated studio tear-jerker doesn't go overboard on the sentimentality, hews close to the original material (the bestselling memoir by newspaper columnist John Grogan) and keeps the performances natural. Both stars are well-matched to their roles and each other; Wilson gives his most mature performance to date. (Here are diametrically opposed reviews by Todd McCarthy and Stephen Holden.)
Also doing well over the holiday, after Marley & Me, was The Curious Life of Benjamin Button, which also drew opposite reviews from Scott (a rave) and the LAT's Turan (a dismissive pan). Its Metacritic average was 70%. That's just ok, but it should score with Oscar voters for its sheer technological virtuosity in any case.
EW's Dave Karger reviews the post-Christmas Oscar landscape. Needing a serious boost from critics was Revolutionary Road, reviewed Friday. The LAT's Turan loved it. Rotten Tomatoes' top critics give it 80%, which is good, but Metacritic is at 71%. I'm not feeling the Academy love for this movie, except for Kate Winslet, who could win the best actress Oscar for the double whammy of Road and The Reader. And Michael Shannon has a shot at a supporting actor nom.
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Glad you liked "Marley" as much as I did ... I wasn't expecting such a nicely crafted film, and I think a few critics reviewed the movie they expected, not the one they actually saw.
Posted by: Christian Toto | December 26, 2008 at 02:42 PM
Reviewers succumb to peer pressure more often than mot of us care to admit. The critics would never have been able to show their faces at the tonier holiday cocktail parties if they had reviewed "Marley" honestly.
Posted by: David C. | December 26, 2008 at 10:17 PM
This is a warm and wonderful movie for anyone who has ever loved a dog.No need to overanalyze it, or need it to be more than it is-makes u want to run home and kiss your dog.
Posted by: Linda H. | December 26, 2008 at 11:33 PM
I cannot, for the life of me, understand what anybody thinks is so much as watchable about Revolution Road. I never read the book. But the only reason I even stayed past the first 10 minutes watching the movie was because I paid $12. It's a big fat shallow who cares...
Posted by: Mr. Milich | December 27, 2008 at 09:42 AM
I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-- it's a great masterpiece film. To be quite frank, I am rather shocked by how a lot of people are dismissing Revolutionary Road outright, but I haven't seen the film yet. The trailers look so damn good.
I'm not really up to see Marley and Me. I dislike Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, both actors can't act worth a crap.
Posted by: UGLY PUNK GURL! | December 27, 2008 at 05:28 PM