A Very Mary Christmas

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.

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.

***ON DVD THE FILM IS CALLED A VERY MARY Christmas*** ***ON DVD THE FILM IS CALLED A VERY MARY Christmas*** ***ON DVD THE FILM IS CALLED A VERY MARY Christmas***

In this film A pregnant teen named Mary runs away from her unsupported mother and ends up spending the holidays with an eccentric cast of characters.

The film is not perfect. It has a since of being "tampered with" in post production. What I did enjoy about this film was it was the fact that Linda Gray proves she can handle a role that isn't "Sue Ellen".

The bad news is that scenes that don't work harm this film. The good news is the good scenes work wonders and elevate this film above the average "Christmas Film"

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.