Expecting Mary

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.

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.

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.

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.