Mary & Tim

I have been a fan of Candice Bergen for years including her top-rated TV show, Murphy Brown, but I was not prepared for her stellar performance in Mary and Tim a little film I never heard of before. I was certainly familiar with the original movie from which Mary and Tim was taken with Mel Gibson and Piper Laurie - an Australian film part of the Australian New Wave Film Movement. Yet Candice Bergen seems to reinvent herself for Mary and Tim showing such depth and emotion that I was really floored since I had always regarded her as something beautiful to look at and amusing. But in Mary and Tim it's like I had never seen Candice Bergen before she was so new and so different and so remarkable. As always I could not take my eyes off her even when the young stud was parading around in hardly anything at all. That actor, Thomas McCarthy, is excellent and convincing but he's no match for the way Bergen dominates the film and the story. She is a gem and a treasure for achieving what she does in this film.

Thomas McCarthy and Candice Bergen did an outstanding job in this movie. I watched the last 1 hour of it. Then later found out that my cable provider would not be showing it again any time soon. I was so touched by this movie. I have never experienced such joy. I know it is just a movie but it hit my heart. The plot was excellent. I cannot seem to find the video or a copy of a DVD. I ordered the book the morning I saw this movie. Is there another movie similar to this one? If so let me know. It is nice to see a great movie once in a while with no violence or cursing involved. I could not get this movie out of my head all day long. It's like how romantic to actually see such a great movie. Thumbs up on this great movie.

MARY AND TIM is a remake that out-does the original. The characters have pure motives and there is never a hint of impropriety. Candice and Tom are convincing and attractive in the roles of Mary and Tim. I keep hoping to find this movie available on home video.

I admire the simple way love is played in this movie, Candy Bergen is a striking actress with wit, experience and talent, while Tom McCarthy(Saint Maybe)gives a fair turn as the "slow" young man who falls for her and gets her to fall in love with him.

Initially I dreaded the match because of Tim's doggedness but there is a vulnerability in him, a craving which needs fulfilment and this finds a likeness in Mary. Tim slowly wears down her resistance and it's touching to see him want to take care of her and look after her even if he knows quite clearly that she is older than him.

His father also recognises that there is a bond which is stronger than most people can comprehend which is why he wants Mary to be Tim's legal guardian.

Touching movie, which I have seen again and again and still would see!!! 7 out of 10.......

This movie will always be very special to me and I'll tell you why but first a short synopsis.

Mary has lost her husband and although her friends try to set her up with other eligible men she's content to remain single. She is in her early 50's, is reasonably well off and has a job running a bookstore that she enjoys. Into this comfortable existence stumbles Tim, an attractive young man in his mid 20's. Tim is learning disabled and works as a handyman and gardener. They meet when Tim, the butt of a practical joke, destroys some of Mary's flowerbeds and offers to repair them. Mary is pleased with Tim's work and in all innocence offers him a more permanent job as gardener. She soon learns that he cannot read and drawn by his open and friendly nature she offers to teach him.

Without planning it the two become friends and as they work together that friendship begins to blossom into something more. Here the drama begins.

Mary finds herself attracted to someone she knows that society says she shouldn't be attracted to. She knows that if she gives in to that attraction, there are those that will always condemn her affection as somehow perverted or wrong.

Also Mary is a bit overwhelmed that Tim feels the same attraction to her. Tim may be slow but he's not stupid. He's a grown man and he has a grown mans feelings. He knows what he wants and says so, first when he kisses her and then when he proposes marriage. Will she ignore society's small-mindedness and enjoy her amazing good fortune or will she yield to societies pressure and forgo the joy that could be hers?

Now as to why this movie is so special to me, its because this film deals very effectively with a conflict that I've felt personally and have never seen expressed quite so well; the feelings that a gay man feels when he considers coming out. Would I somehow find the courage to admit how I felt and take a chance at happiness or would I conform to what I knew society wanted and sacrifice any such chance.

I know that there are those that will disapprove of my choice but then Mary knew the same thing and had the courage to follow her true feelings and her true friends understood and accepted in the end. Can it really be wrong for two folks who care for each other to make each other happy when it does no harm to others?