A Very Mary Christmas

Comfortable as old shoes, Expecting Mary is a feel good movie about family, finding friends in the strangest places, the importance of babies and in general, just surviving the life.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this little gem. For my taste, many movies categorized as comedies nowadays, simply aren't. Given, there are a lot of different styles of comedy.

Expecting Mary is not a double over in your seat, fall down laughing kind of comedy. It's a movie that makes you smile almost all the time you're watching it, with frequent intervals of chuckling and a few genuine laughs out loud. As I said, it's comfortable.

You'll see some familiar stars playing very different kinds of characters than you're used to. I wish Cloris Leachman's part had been bigger. She plays the best, and funniest, un-motherly mother I've ever seen. If you think Della Reese was typecast as all sugar and sweetness in Touched by an Angel, wait till you see her playing against her image as the grumpy owner of the strangest trailer park you've ever seen. The young actress Olesya Rulin that has the star roll playing Mary was new to me. She lives out her part as the pregnant runaway teenager in such a real and heart touching way that you'll hardly believe she's acting. I'll be looking for more from her. I don't want to give it away, but Elliot Gould is a real hoot as the Jewish truck driver.

With respect to all, for me the real star of the film was Linda Gray. She plays Darnell; the slightly mature Vegas show girl that befriends Mary. Darnell chooses to see life as something good, no matter what. She may not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas lights but she lives her life believing for the best; a true optimist in the finest sense. Wait for her last scene in the movie when she is walking the pig. That one made it for me. It's a wonderful way to pass about an hour and a half. You'll make a whole lot of new friends.

Typical story of a pregnant teenage run away, ends up in a "Twilight Zone" small sleepy town. A older (cougar like) sweet woman who is stuck in a dead end job as a show girl in a old ghost town casino takes a liking to her and even more clingy when she herself has a history of making the same mistakes as this young woman. From there on, you kind of start to see where the movie is headed, not a bad thing, just seen it before, admit this was different and strange at the same time, but give it a chance if you like B movies & extra cheese on your story lines.

Had a great variety of old actors and the main character being in more recent movies. Loved Linda Gray, Cloris Leachman, Della Reese & even the lady who played the woman working at the airport. Gene Simmons was a hoot as well. Elliott Gould although memorable, short lived. I'm just shocked this was made in 2010, I didn't know old time movies were still possible to make in these modern, trendy times - Not my rule or standard.

Just watched this very realistic movie. A work of art, depicting the struggle of nowadays life for so many people, yet still able to be an amazing ode to encouragement and positiveness. The actors are all fantastic in their roles. The story is not just a story, but brings wonderful messages. Messages of acceptance at many levels. The director made an effort to depict many different religions. There is the Jewish lady, the Christian congregation, the Sikh nurse, the native Indian lady. Then there is this acceptance for other alternative ways of living; showing us how we could cope with great loss in a redeeming way. Some way or another, I believe we all need this kind of movies to give us the strength to face a new day with hope and to make us understand that sometimes people are less kind because they are having difficulties struggling their own battle. I love this movie so much! It made me cry a lot for all the good reasons.

This could have been a great film, but instead it's only a sappy film. Great stars, reasonable acting. Story line got worse and worse as it went along, attempting to weave in additional story lines towards the end (about the time Gene Simmons came in and cemented as a grade B film with Cybil Shepard attempted to act her way out of a paper bag. Cloris Leachman was a standout, as was the young woman playing Mary. If only... if ONLY the story had stuck to it's core idea and not attempted to branch out, it could have been a hit. On the plus side, it has some potential for those of you who like sappy endings. All in all, worth a look IF it's on cable of lifetime TV.

See y'all at the movies.

I had heard nothing about this movie before I went today. I saw the listing on our newspaper's website and figured with a cast like this, how could it lose... This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. A whole lot of good, albeit past their prime actors were wasted. There were a few touching moments, and it was good to see these actors, but the script was just dismaying and mostly,unintentionally horrid. As my dad would have said, somebody most have owed somebody big-time! Sometimes you don't walk out of a movie only because you don't want to have spent money for nothing. Sometimes you don't walk out because you hold onto the hope that maybe it'll get better. And sometimes you think, well, you could stay and waste your money AND your time. Suffice it to say, I did.