Foreverisacastironmess123 Review of Mary & Tim

Mary & Tim (1996 TV Movie)

Watchable "wrong"relationship type TV drama. Scary and Dim is what they should have named this boring effort...

[4/10 · 6 July 2011]

:WARNING SPOILERS:This movie to me was overall not very gripping at all, but I didn't find it to be especially boring either. Most of the drama was very mild and slow. Not bad acting really, but not enough to grab my attention. I have never read the book, so I don't know if this extremely average TV drama is any better or worse. It may have been small, but one moment that was very touching to me was when Tim's(Why do they always get Tim?)mother is overjoyed that he has been taught to read. This film definitely had its own catchphrase, "that's for sure"(ha ha.)repeatedly uttered by Tim and even Mary later. It got so annoying for me that after hearing it for what must have been the twentieth time, I did want to scream a little bit. I thought that pretty much all of the performances were good. With, in my opinion, Thomas McCarthy, who played what I thought was the most unconvincing portrayal of a special person I have ever seen in a movie. I didn't find him to be all that likable either. I thought that Richard Kiley was just great as the kindly ageing father always looking out for his son's welfare. RIP Something that I really appreciated was how the film occasionally took the time to expand on the story of lesser characters. I felt that Kelli Williams, as Tim's sister, gave one of this films few moments of high drama when she rants vehemently at Mary about her life looking after Tim and her objection to the relationship. I thought that Candice Bergens's performance was very good. Underplayed it is what she did. I had actually never heard of her before seeing this movie.(My mother had.)But, I for one did not like her character's decisions in the movie at all... I know she was lonely, and a decent good hearted person and all that, but come on! She was old enough to be his freaking grandmother! And although Tim was barely slow the idea of a sexual relationship with so older a woman just struck me as plain wrong. This film to me very nearly makes a complete joke of itself at the end. It is so stupid how he reads Wind In The Willows to her at the wedding-and she reads it back too! Yuck! Gross! So wrong... So, Mary And Tim: a film that I'm pretty sure is mainly enjoyed by people that read the book it is based on, but the "relationship" was just a bit weird for me. Apart from that, though, it was a nice enough mellow little drama, something to sip your tea to, on a boring Sunday, with your grandmother, maybe...