A Very Mary Christmas

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 is a very sweet film, well written and directed. Just saw it on TNT and was pleasantly surprised to see such a great cast. The girl who plays the lead is really strong as an actress. Olesya Rulin, she's from the High School Musical movies. She's adorable and vulnerable and interesting to watch. What a great little actress. Della Reese is just hilarious and Cloris Leachman I couldn't get enough of. Wish there were more scenes with her in them. Cybil Shepard was as funny as ever and the gal in the airport terminal was a riot. Story is about a pregnant gal who runs away from her uppity mother (played by Cybil Shepard) to go be with her estranged father (well played by Gene Simmons). She (Olesya Rulin) gets caught up in a weird little town filled with a great cast of quirky characters. Linda Gray plays the woman who becomes a sort of surrogate mother, Lainie Kazan owns the casino that Elliott Gould frequents and dies in. Cloris Leachman and Della Reese live in the same trailer park. Lainie hears that her Casino is in jeopardy of being closed, so the whole town pulls together to help. Linda Gray calls her former agent (Fred Willard) to help them throw a little Christmas shindig to help raise the money. And angry mother (Cybil) shows up in the middle of Lainie Kazan's beautiful rendition of Holy Night, the pregnant girls water breaks and they all head out in a frenzied caravan to get her to the hospital in time. Well, Linda and Cybil bond over the baby and the casino is saved. It's a really sweet, feel good movie.

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.

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.

Without a doubt this film has its' flaws - it is uneven, ranging from near slapstick to near melodrama. There are a few points where the message is delivered in a rather heavy- handed way, but like many things the flaws are minimal compared to the overall product.

The direction is natural, moving the well written story along at a comfortable pace.

Linda Gray does a fantastic job proving what a talented actress she is. Both as a character and an actress she pulls the characters of the film together into a true ensemble.

Each of the featured actors turned in great performances, treating the film the same way they would treat a major Hollywood production. None give a week or halfhearted performance. The characters each play their part in successfully moving the story along.

Stand-outs include Gene Simmons, very believable as the caring, yet not nurturing, father, Lainie Kazan as the yiddish native American, Elliot Gould as the polka loving truck driver, Della Reese as the cantankerous landlord and Cloris Leachman as the pig lady. Olysea Rulin is very sympathetic in the role of Mary.

There is an actress named Kathy Lamkin in the film who is amazing, watch for her.

In short see the movie, you won't regret it.