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Marley & Me | 2008 | PG | - 5.4.4

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston star as a young married couple that moves to Florida to find the perfect jobs in the perfect climate. While pursuing their dreams, they don't feel totally ready to start a human family, and get a dog instead. The story of their lives with their rambunctious Labrador unfolds. Also with Alan Arkin, Eric Dane, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Ann Dowd, Clarke Peters and Kathleen Turner. Directed by David Frankel. [2:03]

SEX/NUDITY 5 - A husband and a wife kiss in bed and it is implied that they have sex (we hear squeaking springs). A husband and wife kiss, she sits on his lap, she stands up and takes off her dress in front of him (we see her bare shoulders and the side of her breast), she jumps into a swimming pool, her husband takes off his shirt (we see his bare chest) and jumps in too, and they kiss and hug.
 A dog tackles a woman and thrusts on her leg rapidly (the woman yells). A wife jumps into her husband's arms and kisses him. A husband and wife kiss in several scenes throughout the movie. A young man and a young woman kiss on a beach. A man flirts with women and uses a dog and a baby as lures to get into conversations with women.
 We see a nude baby boy and his genitals are visible. A dog jumps into a shower where a young woman is bathing and she pulls the curtain down to cover herself (we see her bare shoulders). A dog pulls a towel off a young woman just out of the shower (we see her bare legs). We see many women in bikinis and men in swim trunks in several beach scenes. A woman wears a low-cut wedding gown that reveals cleavage and the skirt is hiked up to her thighs.
 A wife calls her husband and says, "There's a naked woman on your bed" (inviting him to come home and have sex with her). Two men talk about becoming fathers. A man and a woman talk about taking their dog to be neutered. A man talks to another man about stopping birth control so that his wife can become pregnant.
 A woman shows her husband pregnancy test strips that indicate she is pregnant.

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - In an extended scene, a man instructs a doctor to euthanize his dog, we see the doctor inject an IV and we watch the dog close its eyes and stop breathing.
 We hear a scream, a man rushes to a neighbor's house and we see that a young woman has been stabbed (she has blood on her side).
 A woman has a sonogram and she and her husband are told that there is no heartbeat, and they grieve. A husband and his wife argue in a few scenes. A husband and his wife argue about getting rid of their dog. A woman moans from contractions during childbirth. A man talks about his wife standing over him with a meat cleaver.
 A doctor tells a man that she thinks his dog might not make it through the night. A dog goes outside and does not come back, a man and a woman search for it, and it is found lying on the ground and we hear that its stomach has flipped. We see a dead dog covered with a blanket in a hole in the ground and people stand around the grave. We see a police car outside a house and we hear that they have been robbed.
 A dog jumps out of a car window while the car is moving (it is unharmed and walks alongside the car while a man in the car holds onto its back legs). A dog tackles a woman and thrusts on her leg rapidly (the woman yells). A man and a woman chase a dog trying to get it to drop a necklace it has in its mouth. A dog chases birds on a beach and people chase it. A dog cries and howls when being left alone in a garage and we see later that the dog has torn many things up. A dog jumps through a shrub row, takes a stick from a boy's hands and runs away while a man chases. We hear that a dog eats a lot of things (like an answering machine, etc.). A dog takes a woman's bra out of the laundry and won't give it back to her. A dog runs into a screen door, then through the screen door, breaking it.
 A man picks through dog feces in the backyard trying to find a necklace that the dog ate. A dog urinates on the floor (we hear a trickle and see the stream). A dog defecates in the ocean (we see it squat). We hear about a fire in a garbage dump from a methane leak. A dog eats a soiled diaper (we do not see the mess in the diaper).

LANGUAGE 4 - 4 sexual references, 6 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (jerk), 9 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man and a woman drink champagne, a man drinks a beer, we see two bottles of beer on a table, and we see two glasses of wine on a table. A man talks about having done "bong hits."

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Dogs, human/canine relationships, death of a beloved pet, dog training, love, authority, family, life choices, miscarriage, colic, divorce, guilt, sacrificing.

MESSAGE - Life is full of surprises. Dogs can give us extraordinary happiness, as well as grief.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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