Movie Review: The Yellow Birds (2017)

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Striving to do justice to Iraq veteran Kevin Powers' eponymous 2012 award-winning novel, Blue Caprice director Alexandre Moors anchors his adaptation of The Yellow Birds with lyrical Thin Red Line style voice-over narration and scenes that – like a river – sway back and forth in time.

A solidly made if ultimately underwhelming war picture, although it's elevated by an impressive ensemble of actors, Birds fails to connect us in any real way to a majority of the young soldiers we follow from boot camp into Iraq over the course of the film.

The Achilles Heel of the genre, while at least we get a better sense of the characters than we did in Black Hawk Down –thanks largely in part due to the decision to bring the mothers of our two leads (played by Jennifer Aniston and Toni Collette) into the narrative – just when we begin to bond with the main characters in The Yellow Birds, we unexpectedly move on.

And while these segues provide a very real, stylistic link to the unpredictability of life during wartime, when you combine the narrative shortcomings with the film's mere ninety-five minute running time, it's easy to wonder how much material was left on the cutting room floor or not shot at all due to budget and/or time constraints.

Originally developed by Pete's Dragon writer/director David Lowery who was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, when he first climbed aboard Birds as a replacement director, Moors found himself working not only from a novel but also the script and vision of someone else.

Hoping to remedy that, he hired his Blue Caprice writer R.F.I. Porto to revise Yellow's script, which led to more delays and cast changes. And while as a experienced writer, director, and editor in his own right, Moors was able to find his groove, certain scenes in the film feel muddled enough that you get the impression that they might have worked better in – if not a different movie altogether – than at least a different version of the script or final cut.

Repeatedly moving from past to present throughout to find the soldiers pre-war, in war, and post-war, the film follows the experiences of eighteen year old Daniel Murphy and twenty year old John Bartle (played by Tye Sheridan and Alden Ehrenreich) who become fast friends in boot camp before they're quickly deployed overseas.

And although we know what happens to one of the two characters due to an ill-advised opening narration that must've worked much better in Kevin Powers' novel than it does here, more than just filmic CliffsNotes, The Yellow Birds is still a beautifully rendered and haunting portrait of the way that war changes the men and women who answer the call.

Not nearly as impactful or as cohesive as it wants to be however, unfortunately aside from Murphy, Bartle, and their mothers, the other characters are shortchanged throughout.

At its best when it opts for an understated approach as opposed to a late-introduced, heavy handed baptismal motif that immediately pulls you out of the movie, Birds is nonetheless average overall.

Breaking our heart in two memorable sequences, particularly by way of a bittersweet dance scene which bookends the work, although it doesn't soar for very long, just like real birds, Moors' Yellow Birds dazzles more in the quiet moments than it does during war.

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DVD Review: The Cinema Pride Collection

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The Children’s Hour (1961)

With the censoring Hays Code no longer in effect, director William Wyler remade his own 1936 film These Three, which was based on Lillian Hellman’s critically acclaimed stage play about two schoolteachers whose life, work and status in the community is ruined when a young bullying student outs the women as lesbians by spreading cruel lies comprised of exaggerating snippets of conversations she and other students overheard.

While the ’36 version changed the plot drastically to a heterosexual affair that divides the women’s friendship, in this adaptation by screenwriter John Michael Hayes, Hellman’s original source material (inspired by a real life story about two Scottish teachers) was translated in an extremely faithful and still devastatingly intense work.

And directing the woman he helped introduce to the world – Audrey Hepburn – in a role unlike any she’d previously tackled makes The Children’s Hour quite the conversation starter. However, Hepburn’s co-star Shirley MacLaine admits that the two women never did discuss the real nature of their characters’ relationship and instead played it straight from the page since the topic was still scandalous onscreen for the time. Nonetheless The Children’s Hour, which also features a top notch supporting turn by James Garner in his first role since suing Warner Brothers to be released from his Maverick contract, remains just as haunting as it always did nearly fifty years after its release.

La Cage Aux Folles (1978)

Whereas it took The Children’s Hour decades to be filmed in a way that closely matched the original play, 1978’s La Cage Aux Folles only took five years since its stage debut to become an international box office film sensation.

The Italian and French production maintained the best of both countries in terms of cinema with the brilliant employment of Italian composer Ennio Morricone to complete a memorable film score for the piece to augment its naturally funny set-up as a pitch-perfect French comedic character driven work, co-written by Francis Veber who has since become synonymous with the country’s film industry comedy scene.

In the film, after long-term gay couple Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault) discover that Renato’s beloved twenty-year straight son (Remi Laurent) is getting married to a girl with ultra conservative parents, the two theatrical entertainers undergo the challenge of a lifetime. Forced to play it straight, the couple winds up hosting a family dinner for their prospective in-laws all within a less than forty-eight hour time span.

Having spawned a successful franchise of two sequels, a superior yet extremely faithful American remake in the mid ‘90s and a Broadway musical production as well, it's a fascinating experiment to watch Edouard Molinaro’s terrifically funny foreign classic before you visit one of the other interpretations.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Originally made for television, the fifth film from Oscar nominated director Stephen Frears based on a screenplay from respected yet frequently controversial playwright Hanef Kureishi helped launch not only the careers of those behind the camera (as just three years later Frears made a Hollywood splash with Dangerous Liasions) but also solidified the extraordinary burgeoning talent of eventual Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis.

Going for a rather matter-of-fact treatment of homosexuality, the orientation of its main character Omar (Gordon Warnecke) — the Pakistani-British young man torn between loyalties to his relatives and ancestral culture and his dedication to life among his friends in ‘80s Thatcher era Britain — often takes a backseat to the political, sociological and economical issues facing society during that time.

Filled with unexpected comedy, pathos and a richly complex cast of characters including scene-stealer Day-Lewis as an old schoolmate and childhood friend of Omar’s who has become part of a racist band of hoodlums in recent years, My Beautiful Laundrette works well on a number of levels.

Despite a slightly protracted and overly slick ending, its overall authenticity in capturing the time, place, and feeling of economic hardship during the Thatcher years along with the growing prejudice in the streets as immigrants began running local businesses makes My Beautiful Laundrette an emotionally engrossing document of its era.

One of the standouts in this box set, Laundrette is a far cry better than the pretentious Bent or thinly drawn Imagine Me & You. And while you may wind up wishing Kureishi had decided to give the work a far more memorable and serious title, there’s still no denying its importance as an early showcase for audiences to discover just how well Frears manages to pull us into the worlds of his films and – much like his uniformly strong casts – make us feel as though we're part of the onscreen family.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Although it’s a far cry better than Hollywood’s “three drag queens on the road” vehicle To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, I’m afraid that much like the play and movie inspired by the ABBA song featured in the film – “Mamma Mia” – I just don’t understand why this Australian import has reached camp/cult status.

While admittedly Priscilla has the makings of a camp classic, just based on the fact that Stephan Elliott’s film features British New Wave bad boy Terrence Stamp in a role as a transsexual but the movie is rather manic in its tone – never sure if it wants to just shoot for the moon as a drag queen extravaganza or get serious in the midst some pretty harrowing scenes of violent homophobia.

In addition to Priscilla’s identity crisis, one of the main characters played by Memento star Guy Pearce is so over-the-top and irritating that you find yourself ready to press eject if onscreen queens Stamp and Hugo Weaving don’t eject him from the bus for more than just one night on their journey across the outback. This being said, there’s not a whole lot I can rave about Priscilla aside from its Oscar winning costume design and a multi-layered beautiful turn by Golden Globe nominated Stamp whose supporting role becomes the one we’re touched by the most throughout the film's running time.

The Birdcage (1996)

Mike Nichols’s old comedy partner Elaine May adapted this wildly raucous remake of the ’78 foreign film La Cage Aux Folles that managed to remain both true to the plot and even a majority of the dialogue of the original work but ensure that leads Robin Williams and Nathan Lane would have plenty of room to improvise.

Despite its tremendous box office returns, upon its release reaction to the work was somewhat divided. Namely, half of the audience seemed unable to look past the stereotype embodied particularly by Lane as Albert, the partner of Williams’ Armand who also works as the headliner at their Miami South Beach drag club.

Meanwhile the other half of the audience was extremely impressed by the way the actors transcends the stereotype to truly get straight audiences to look past orientation and empathize with the couple when Armand’s son begs them to play straight for his fiance’s extremely conservative parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Weist).

While I can see both sides of the argument, I tend to lean towards the latter reaction as Nichols’ film marks the first gay-themed film that I ventured to the theatre to see growing up as a straight, suburban teen.

The fact that I wasn’t alone in the audience as a heterosexual fully involved in the plight of the characters to me makes the film a resounding success in subtly getting the message out about tolerance, acceptance and respecting everyone’s rights to live as equals. Yet by adding in a spoonful of sugar, the filmmakers manage to consistently leave viewers in hysterics – smiling and laughing at something we may not have otherwise experienced while opening our eyes to other points-of-view.

With a far superior third act to the original film that works better on both a comedic level with Lane managing to win over a clueless Hackman as the son’s old-fashioned homemaker "mother" and likewise winning back our respect for their selfish son with some tender declarations, The Birdcage remains one of Williams’ most triumphant comedies in a decade that also scored the actor a hit in another drag related comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire.

Bent (1997)

Although it would take me another year or two to officially “discover” Clive Owen in Mike Hodges’ terrific contemporary film noir Croupier, the actor who’d first received his big break earlier in the ‘90s in Britain’s ITV series Chancer took on a rather daring role in playwright Martin Sherman’s adaptation of his own 1979 stage work Bent.

Relishing in extremely graphic images of the hedonistic lifestyle of sexually adventurous Berlin residents in the WWII era (including a cameo by Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger as a drag performer), director Sean Matthias' Cannes award winning film earned a dreaded NC-17 rating. However, if it were released today (in the post Talk to Her society of films by Pedro Almodovar among others), I doubt that the same rating would still hold up.

While stunning, it’s a shame that so much emphasis was placed on the production design and exhibitionist sequences that kick-start the movie. As the work continues and Clive Owen’s gay character lands in the concentration camp at Dachau – managing to work out a deal and accept the Jewish designated yellow star as opposed to the gay pink triangle – the film could’ve benefited from the same attention to detail utilized in the beginning.

Similar to the far stronger 1985 screen interpretation of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Bent unfortunately remains extremely stagey throughout. Therefore, despite an excellent turn by both Owen and his co-star Lothaire Bluteau who portrays a fellow camp prisoner given the dreaded pink triangle which he describes as the lowest one can get, the film never manages to reach us on an authentic emotional level since it can’t help feeling like something akin to a play that’s simply been captured on celluloid.

The Object of My Affection (1998)

Working from Stephen McCauley’s eponymous novel, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein crafts some truly dazzling speeches for lead actors Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston in British director Nicholas Hytner’s underrated effort. Although there’s a lot about the work that doesn’t ring true from a logistical standpoint as characters all click into place for a cookie cutter, politically correct conclusion, the film has nonetheless been a bit too harshly judged.

When viewed today, it’s easy to understand why it’s been dismissed by critics in retrospect as either an Aniston film shot to capitalize on the popularity of the Friends actress whose hairstyle became a ‘90s craze or just another straight woman/gay best friend clichéd flick that became trendy during the era of Will and Grace, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Madonna and Rupert Everett’s similar venture The Next Best Thing. However, when you try to remain objective and remove the tidal waves of Friends and gay best friend trends, you’re left with much to admire thanks largely to Wasserstein’s compassionate script that centers on misplaced love in all arenas from straight to gay and platonic to romantic as the film’s characters fall in love with the wrong people at the right time or vice versa.

Equally dedicated to their work with the next generation of New York youths, Rudd’s gay first grade teacher George Harrison meets and quickly becomes fast friends and roommates with Aniston’s at-risk teenage counselor Nina Borowski shortly after George discovers from Nina that he’s been dumped by his boyfriend Tim Daly. Happier spending time together than with those they’re dating including Nina’s overbearing, fast-talking boyfriend Vince (John Pankow), the two friends seriously consider becoming their own makeshift family when Nina learns that she’s pregnant and realizes that she’d rather raise the baby with George rather than Vince.

And despite the fact that her step-sister (Allison Janney) warns Nina that she’s harboring more romantic than platonic feelings for her gay knight in shining armor given their already confusing and rather physically affectionate personal boundaries, it takes awhile for our leads to stop rationalizing and move from fantasy to reality in realizing what it is they truly want and need from one another.

Object is bolstered by some superb characterizations from its supporting cast, particularly Nigel Hawthorne as Rodney, a friend the two make late into the picture after George begins to move on with his love life. And although the movie does suffer slightly from its protracted, far too neat wrap-ups for its large ensemble cast, it’s well-worth exploring again the second time around to see what you may have missed in the midst of so much hype during your first viewing when it was nearly impossible to see Aniston in something and not think “that’s Rachel Green!”

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Now a contemporary classic, co-writer and director Kimberly Peirce’s feature film debut Boys Don’t Cry starring Hilary Swank in her first Oscar winning role as Best Actress is arguably the most critically acclaimed inclusion in The Cinema Pride Collection. And after watching the film today, it's damn near impossible to imagine what the true story of the short life and tragic death of twenty-one year old Teena Brandon would’ve been like if directed by interested party Diane Keaton with actress Drew Barrymore in the lead.

While obviously the professional, impressive women would no doubt have taken the responsibility of the work seriously, I think a large reason why Boys works so extraordinarily well is that aside from starring in The Next Karate Kid, Hilary Swank was relatively unknown to us at the time of its release. Likewise, Peirce’s passion for the project which manifested during a five year research mission and an award-winning Columbia University precursor short film that helped generate her funding and connections to get the feature produced made the resulting ’99 effort far more personal, heartfelt and intimate.

With so many underdogs involved in the production of Boys overcoming obstacles to live out their dreams similar to the person whose story they gathered to tell that stepped to the beat of her own personal drummer, the movie transcends the limits of both cinema and its delicate subject matter. Ultimately the film impacts viewers personally so that everyone can identify with Brandon’s sole wish just to live life while remaining true to herself. In Brandon’s case this mission meant that the female who was born with the name of Teena Brandon would embrace and overcome her “sexual identity crisis” by living her life pre-sex change operation as a male, flipping her name around to become Brandon Teena.

Careful not to gloss over anything regarding Brandon’s life and transform the character into some sort of symbol or icon, Peirce presents us with the pain, passion, and perseverance of the Nebraska individual through choices Brandon made that were both wise and foolish.

Shortly into the film, Brandon gets kicked out of her gay cousin’s place. Skipping out on authorities and a subpoena for her arrest, she befriends Candace (Alicia Goranson) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) after a bar fight.

Once John intervenes in the scuffle, he takes his new pal Brandon down to their place in Falls City, Nebraska where Brandon – still presenting himself as the boy he’s convinced he is rather than a female lesbian – quickly falls in love with John’s old flame Lana (Oscar nominated Chloe Sevigny).

As their relationship heats up so does suspicion regarding Brandon. Unfortunately nobody could’ve predicted how horrifying the turn of events would be when the truth about Brandon is finally revealed to deadly effect.

Pulling no punches, Boys Don’t Cry's extended attack and rape sequence nearly garnered the title an NC-17 rating and it's downright excruciating to watch given its stark authenticity. Yet even though admittedly, Peirce’s extraordinary docudrama isn’t the type of work I can imagine wanting to view more than once, it’s one that I feel would benefit us all to be shown in high schools in order to open up a dialogue and ensure that teens and young adults feel safe in expressing their own identity without fear of hatred, violence and murder.

Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

Although described by Helen (Heather Juergensen) as the “Jewish Sandra Dee,” twenty-eight year old copyeditor and secretly aspiring painter Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) initially reminds audience members of a “Jewish Annie Hall.” And this is especially apparent near the start of the film as the woman whom her matchmaking mother reminds her hasn’t dated anyone in a year endures a series of bad dates with a wide variety of men from fellow gym enthusiasts to those overly picky about how to break up the dinner bill.

And even though she explains that she could never tell her therapist because it’s way too private, somehow – beat down way too much by horrible dates and mixed signals – Jessica answers a personal ad placed by another seemingly straight woman in the form of Juergensen’s Helen, which grabs her attention thanks to its beautiful quote by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Walking back and forth from Helen repeatedly when they first meet as a freaked out Jessica tries to hail a cab, soon she surprises herself completely. After letting the possibility of sharing a drink with Helen “marinate” for awhile, soon enough those baby steps lead her to begin tentatively dating the heterosexually promiscuous museum curator, despite the fact that physical intimacy is something she still balks at much like the virginal Doris Day in old Rock Hudson sexless sex comedies.

Further complicating matters when her old college boyfriend and newspaper editor boss Josh (Scott Cohen) starts getting far more interested in her personal life to the point that he actually becomes nicer to her at work, Jessica finds herself in one confusing romantic comedy that sparkles with wit, appealing characters, and fresh conversation based upon Westfeldt and Juergensen’s original play Lipschtick.

One of the first movies to digitally remove background images of the World Trade Center, tragically the quintessentially Woody Allenesque New York movie played on the day before and after 9/11/01 during the Toronto International Film Festival in its second festival premiere. However the talented scribes’ inventive work, helmed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, still remains a remarkably funny, unfailingly likable, and surprisingly unique look at being single in the States.

Imagine Me &You (2006)

Before the minister asked attendees if there were any objections to the marriage of Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Heck (Matthew Goode), perhaps it would’ve been better if he’d checked with the bride. In writer/director Ol Parker’s debut film, pretty and thoughtful Rachel is all set to marry her best friend Heck but finds herself pulled by unexpected stirrings on the way to the altar after she catches sight of Luce (Lena Headey), the beautiful florist her mother had hired to piece together the bouquets and arrangements for Rachel’s big day.

At the reception, the two become fast friends when Luce rescues Rachel’s oversized wedding ring from the party punch bowl. And although Rachel tells husband Heck that she feels a certain near soul-mate like friendship connection with Luce, she and Heck decide to play matchmaker by inviting Luce and Heck’s obnoxious humorous admittedly cad like friend (as is always the case in British comedies) to dinner but before he arrives, Luce admits that she’s just not that into men.

Her confession complicates Rachel’s ability to spend time with her new friend, not out of prejudice but the opposite as she begins to see that her lifestyle may be the one Rachel had belonged in all along, although Luce tries to distance herself from her acquaintance not wanting to mess with a couple’s happiness.

Despite the overly polite and – as several critics pointed out – unbelievably convenient and nearly apologetically chaste proceedings that made Imagine Me and You the second ’06 film including the bright but admittedly far fetched Gray Matters to deal with a marital love triangle and female’s coming out, the charms of not only Headey and Goode but especially the always under-utilized Piper Perabo make it entertaining.

Although as a straight filmgoer, I can see the arguments of my gay friends in their opposition to the trite plot points and feel this may have begun in the film’s initial stages as it was originally written as a heterosexual love story, it’s still another forgettable, escapist British comedy that’s sure to delight.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Text Copyright © 2014, Film Intuition. All Rights Reserved. http://reviews.filmintuition.com/

Movie Review: Love Happens (2009)

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As someone who feels that the self-help industry is in need of self-help and seminars are just a larger version of Paul Dano making Daniel Day Lewis shout "I've abandoned my child" in There Will Be Blood, needless to say I was a tad skeptical about the prospect of a love story set amidst a self-help seminar.

Yet, while I don't believe in the moral and ethical implications of the backdrop of "open your wallet and we'll help you with common sense" or wondering about what happens when someone leaves said seminar and is away from workshops, I do believe in one of the most criminally underrated actors working in American cinema today, Mr. Aaron Eckhart.

Curiously driven to flawed and downright ugly roles perhaps as a determined effort to refocus attention he's no doubt received all his life for his Robert Redford-esque looks whether it's in his tour de force turn in Thank You For Smoking or via vile characters portrayed in Nurse Betty or In the Company of Men or switching up his appearance to win Julia Roberts' heart in Erin Brockovich, the bottom line is there's nothing false about Eckhart when he's onscreen.

This film is (mostly) no exception as he tackles an externally perfect, internally struggling self-help guru who, having tragically lost his wife in a freak traffic accident a few years earlier, took his day job writing columns for Psychology Today and worked through his grief by chronicling it in book form. When his friend and manager, Lane (Dan Fogler) read the book titled A-Okay and gave it to a publisher, it became a phenomenal bestseller earning Eckhart's Dr. Burke Ryan legions of fans before it evolved into sold-out seminars where he helps others grappling with the death of a loved one.

Guilty about the perception of cashing in on his wife's death and not actually managing to have followed his own advice to avoid alcohol since it's like putting a bandage "on a bullet wound" or forcing himself to smile for five minutes every day until it becomes natural, privately Burke is a wreck. Ritually, he puts himself through impossible trials of running up and down several flights of stairs at the hotels he visits around the country and looks ready for a panic attack each time after enlisting the help of liquid courage before he puts on a happy, confident face for the paying participants.Simply put, when we meet Burke, he visibly feels like the other four letter word that usually precedes "happens" in pop culture. Thus, it's quickly evident upon his arrival to host a grief workshop in Seattle where he's confronted by father-in-law Martin Sheen he's avoided for years that Love Happens is not going to be the feel great date movie of the year.

Yet despite its many, many contrivances, it gets much better as it continues as-- to his amazement-- Burke finds himself attracted and fascinated by Jennifer Aniston's free-spirited florist Eloise who provides the hotel with gorgeous, fresh arrangements. The unlikely and charmingly awkward courtship of the two gets off to a very rocky start as, coming off another romantic letdown with a philandering ex (Joe Anderson), Eloise tries to dodge the Seattle visitor first by pretending she's deaf and then by telling him off in the men's room that she isn't going to be a local girl he can just have a fling with... yet in much more colorful language.

Aniston and Eckhart spark well together which is refreshing to see for Aniston who has struggled in the past with unconvincing chemistry opposite Clive Owen in Derailed and Mark Ruffalo in Rumor Has It and sure enough, this is one of her strongest roles since The Break-Up and Friends With Money as she elevates the film from its Nicholas Sparks air of depression with a fun Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail mixed with Natalie Portman in Garden State vibe.

In fact, I was reminded of Garden State and its influence Harold and Maude numerous times as similarly in Happens, the life-affirming yet slightly screwed up, unconventional woman helps lead the path for a man to heal with love. While the choice to make her a florist is definitely symbolic as romance blooms and flowers die just like people and arrangements are used in times of sympathy and celebration and one of her unique quirks is making copies of "life on a 3x5 card" aka notes that are sent along with flowers that have stuck out in her life, the movie itself brightens whenever Eloise or her flowers are onscreen.

The balance between love and death and moving forward while being stuck in the past is important and emotionally charged since everyone can relate yet at the same time it makes the film slightly uncomfortable viewing if you're getting over a loss yourself. And while I applauded its ambitious nature, ultimately it's way too much to pack into a movie.

Moreover, as Burke tries to own up to the guilt he feels and work through the pain, it never feels authentic and I couldn't help wishing it had done away with the seminar stuff or retooled it somehow since the relationship is more of a flirtation than love and the grief is so rushed, you get through all five stages in two minutes near the end which may work in a self help book by fake doctors but would never have been published as truth in Psychology Today.

This is especially obvious in a confessional scene literally onstage with Martin Sheen that sparked a couple of surprised laughs in the audience because it just didn't work. Likewise you could sense that even Eckhart knew it was too mixed of a bag in not only in this scene but a few other "group therapy" moments involving a terrific turn by Zodiac and Gran Torino actor John Carroll Lynch wherein Eckhart works overtime to try and make us believe that a man can be healed by one shopping trip to Home Depot.

Overall, the film marks an admirable effort that's half successful and more worthy of a rental than a ticket price aside from the fact that it's undeniably bolstered by the always watchable Eckhart and Aniston in two terrific roles. Unfortunately, the characters weren't served well and neither was the audience as in addition to the strange bedfellows of plot-juggling such polar-opposite events, the fact that part of Burke's road to recovery involves a multi-million dollar sell-out leaves us with a sour aftertaste of greed instead of the deliciousness of healing with love.

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Blu-ray Review: Marley & Me (2008) -- 3-Disc Bad Dog Edition

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3/31/09



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In the Blu-ray extra “Breaking the Golden Rule,” Emmy award-winning Friends star Jennifer Aniston makes the astute observation that she assumed Marley & Me “was a dog movie,” until it ripped her heart out.

20th Century Fox’s film—released on 2008’s Christmas day —was based upon newspaper columnist John Grogan's 2005 best-selling nonfiction work published under the same name which consisted of the affable Grogan’s humorous and heartfelt anecdotes about life, marriage, family, and work when living with what he jokes is “the world's worst dog." The work earned the same type of Oprah-friendly like following as a sort of Tuesdays with Morrie book for the dog lover in all of us. And to those familiar with the material, the idea of releasing it on a family-friendly holiday seemed like a curious choice.

And while-- given its PG rating and suitability to play for families as it’s minus the raunchy humor found in some of its star Owen Wilson’s earlier collaborations in the frat pack comedies with Vince Vaughn such as Wedding Crashers-- the ending of Marley started to earn comparisons to Bambi, Old Yeller, and the like even before its release.

This was especially evident as several movie webmasters (including myself) were sent spoiler warnings and photos of what was said to be L.A. graffiti that used three, one-syllable words to reveal the fate of the character Marley in an attempt to deter parents from bringing their little ones to a movie they feared would have the kids crying harder than they might if they’d been told “No, Virginia, there isn’t a Santa Claus” or had shot their eye out with A Christmas Story’s Red Rider BB gun.

I didn't post the spoilers since I dislike them on principle but I also couldn’t verify the accuracy nor what the intention was of the first individual sending them my way in the first place. Moreover, I truly feel that ultimately it’s the best mode of film study to try and avoid pre-judging a work (no matter how bad some of them look such as The Love Guru or Dance Flick), but having just seen Marley & Me recently in this gorgeous Fox Blu-ray transfer, I can definitely admit that much like Jennifer Aniston noted, it rips your heart out indeed.



Likewise, it seems perhaps best suited to early teens and adults than the teaser trailer of the beautiful lead actors chasing their yellow Labrador retriever down a sandy beach implied. Simply put, Marley & Me isn’t Million Dollar Baby but it also isn’t Beethoven, Turner and Hooch, or one in the long line of the many silly comedies about man’s best friend.

Working from a script by the best author of Elmore Leonard adaptations currently working in Hollywood-- Mr. Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty) -- who also collaborated with the talented Don Roos (Boys on the Side, Bounce), Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel takes a more sincere and authentic approach to dog ownership and the irreplaceable bond that forms between pets and their owners.

It seems as though it's no accident and indeed foreshadows the rest of the film that upon trading the blizzards of their Michigan home for the sunshine and promise of Miami, Florida—newlyweds John and Jenny Grogan decide that the first logical step before bringing a child into their home would be test-driving their nurturing skills on a new puppy.



Or at least that's what John Grogan decides after realizing that he's not quite ready to become a father just yet, struggling to fight the delusions of Woodward and Bernstein like hard-hitting newspaperman grandeur he dreams of that’s personified by his talented, fearless, toxic bachelor college friend and colleague Sebastian Tunney (Eric Dane). He's even more conflicted when his new editor Arnie Klein (Little Miss Sunshine’s Alan Arkin) surmises that John’s writing style is perhaps best suited to becoming a columnist.

Perhaps one of the only newspaper staff writers working in what’s now becoming a scarce dinosaur-like industry who hesitates to accept a truly permanent gig at double his salary, John eventually reconsiders, realizing that he has the ultimate source for writing inspiration when the creative well runs dry upon bringing the adorable, charismatic “bad boy” puppy Marley into their home.

Initially dubbed the “clearance puppy” after John and Jenny are presented with an offer to purchase their new pet for the bargain price of two hundred dollars that would make pretty much everyone else have second thoughts given the adageof “you get what you pay for,” but amazingly the two journalists abandon their professional instinct to ask questions and just say yes.



Surprising Jenny with Marley when she returns from an assignment, it was John's hope to have formed an instantaneous bond with the new pup as well as get started on training the smiley pet named after what John perceives to be a preference for singer Bob Marley jammin’ on the radio. However, we soon realize that it’s Marley who’s the one easily running the whole show.

In a series of sitcom-like misadventures that fill a majority of the film's running time, we follow the unbelievably devoted patient John and Jenny as they struggle to deal with their four legged alpha-male Marley who gets kicked out of obedience school, chews anything he can get into his eager mouth creating quite a ridiculously expensive amount of damage to pretty much everything with which he comes into contact.



Yet, of course, the Grogans decided to put up with the devil inside that angel faced dog even after three small children are added into the equation who luckily Marley doesn’t attack on site. However, it dwells far too much on just how wild the unruly dog is to earn our sympathy. And the filmmakers’ constant decision to tell us how important Marley is to the Grogans rather than show us—which is especially apparent in a great speech Wilson delivers near the end when he lists the times Marley was there for all of them which would’ve helped win us over-- makes the devastatingly sad conclusion seem a bit too manipulative and seemingly Nicholas Sparks-like.

Similarly, over the course of two hours in this extremely truncated version of the book, we follow the Grogan family through the inevitable joys and tragedies that befall them including a pretty major strain on their marriage that the film hints could’ve been postpartum depression, however it’s abandoned in the narrative shortly thereafter in just one of many threads that are included as pivotal plot points and then dropped to move onto the next episodic event.

Additionally, I was startled to realize that I never quite felt that invested in any of the children characters whom we barely get to know except for trying to use them for the maximum tissue potential in the tear inducing finale. When you couple this with too much time spent on what I assume the filmmakers were hoping would have been the giggle inducing and crowd pleasing, zany antics of Marley it adds up to chaos as-- to viewers-- the untrained and destructive Marley just seems to add fuel to the fire of an increasingly tense relationship between the husband and wife.



In fact, in this regard as we see John and Jenny nearly reach a breaking point, the film will definitely strike a chord in those over thirty dealing with the same issues as well. It's one of the film's major relatable through-lines to focus on John's restlessness and envy for more professionally as he sits in his driveway for a few moments too long at the end of each workday before going into the chaos of the household as Jenny—the incredibly talented writer who gave up working to care for the kids—tries to keep her head above water.

Although in some cases, watching John and Jenny fight may hit a little too close to home as most couples dealing with far too little time together and quality time being far more scarce as they multitask with dogs and children and careers may realize that instead of endearing us to Marley as was done in print-- onscreen, you’re wondering if they should’ve tried a few more stabs at obedience school.

Of course, by squeezing in as many years as the book chronicled into just 115 minutes, Frankel, Roos, and Scott do make you appreciate the film’s lukewarm success in its ability to tell a story that goes far beyond Marley’s tale (or “tail”). And while the tearjerker ending is handled with care, despite a couple of moments that feel forced as suddenly we’re supposed to feel a major bond and understanding with the children whom we’d rarely seen previously, overall it felt as rushed and emotionally chaotic as one frenzied dash by Marley through the Grogan’s home, trying to do as much as possible in as little time in this watchable but ultimately forgettable chase.



The Blu-ray transfer of the film is top-notch as Fox again proves their mastery of the format with great picture and sound balance even with an HDMI plug-in and without a full home theatre setup and moreover, for fans of the film, the Blu-ray is the best version to purchase regardless of your technological needs as this marks Fox’s first foray into the popular three-disc format (that I first saw with Walt Disney Studios) by offering the film on DVD, Blu-ray and also as a digital copy file compatible with both Windows Media and iTunes that you can transfer onto your portable devices.

Filled with dog-friendly featurettes that introduce us to the some of the major canine actors hired as part of the twenty-two American Yellow Field Lab tall, lanky dogs who portray Marley from five weeks to fourteen years headed up by the distinct personality type opposites Clyde and Jonah as just two cast in the group of three to four for any given age. Going against the popular belief that you shouldn’t work with pets and kids (especially in the same film), the cast and crew—along with John and Jenny Grogan who are also interviewed in various featurettes—discuss the joys and challenges of working with these tremendously trained dogs.



In displaying this, we're once again treated to one of the movie's best sequences as their skills were given the ultimate showcase in one of the film’s most effective montages as Wilson’s John does a voice-over of various columns which deal with what’s going on in his life as they continually struggle to deal with Marley.

Although he jokes that dogs are the easiest actors to work with since they’re never on the phone or in the trailer and are always professional, Frankel, Aniston, and Wilson marvel at the wonderful ability the trainers had to take perfectly trained, well-mannered dogs and on cue, turn them into unruly terrors as the cameras rolled.

While I think the best way to appreciate the story of Marley is by taking in John Grogan’s book—those of you who were a bit squeamish to see this well-intentioned misfire in its theatrical release can be rest assured that although you will probably want to bring a pocket pack of Kleenex for the sad ending, you don’t need to worry that it’ll be one that’s going to require a trip with your dog to the local pet psychiatrist.

New on DVD & Blu-ray for the Week of 3/29/09

Jen's Pick of the Week:

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