Mary & Tim (1996 TV Movie) User Reviews

Simple Heartwarming Movie!!!.

[nifabs · 7/10 · 5 May 2005]

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.......

Different and wonderful, but not necessarily better...

[CC1966 · 8/10 · 13 February 2005]

I just saw "Mary and Tim" on Lifetime. I loved it. Candice Bergen's portrayal of the 50 something Mary and Thomas McCarthy's Tim (btw did anyone else get a little chuckle that the actor's names were Bergen and McCarthy?)was sweet and touching...

While i did prefer Ms Bergen's performance-she gave it just a touch more depth and sensitivity, Mel Gibson's Tim felt a tad more realistic: he gave Tim a great combination of innocence in a grown man's body. He was wide-eyed and adorable. McCarthy was sweet, but he seemed a little too 'movie of the week'-ish to me.

But this particular adaptation was a little easier to believe when Tim proposes marriage to Mary. It makes sense that all of the parties involved would have serious reservations...in the original, Tim's dad merely attended the wedding without voicing any opinion at all, which always seemed a little strange to me. I did like the fact that they gave Mary and Justine a little resolution in their relationship. The original movie's Dawnie just had a too much hostility.

All in all there are pluses and minuses to both versions, but frankly, I adore both movies, and will probably never get tired of watching either.

Love finds you when you least expect it.

[aggie_green · 8/10 · 6 March 2002]

I really enjoyed this touching movie. It's light-hearted and poignant. It's one of my favorites. I agree that it is much better than its predecessor "Tim" which starred Mel Gibson and Piper Laurie. It reminds us of love's power to overcome all boundaries. If you love clean romances this is a good pick.

GREAT remake of "TIM X"

[secretfantasia · 24 October 2005]

"Mary and Tim" is a really great, warm and touching film which I have enjoyed seeing a few times now. I think that both Candice and Thomas, who plays the two main characters, are superb in these roles. It's great to see this version and also the changes they have made from the original version "Tim X" with Mel Gibson and Piper Laurie from 1979. I LOVED the original film and I thought both Mel Gibson and the extraordinary Piper Laurie should have won academy awards for their performances. The bad thing about the original is that, although the actors are brilliant, the film itself are a bit cheap in terms of how it's made. Must have been a low-budget Australian adventure. However, in this 1996 re-make TV version, it's very good quality for a TV film.

I think that the actor who plays Tim deserves to be recognized more for his acting. I think he was very good in this film, and played a role you very rarely see a young actor playing. Candice Bergen is always great. I love the idea of a young guy and an older woman, and it's all done in great taste and touches upon the subject that you should NEVER judge anyone because of how they feel emotionally for another person, or judge anyone who might be a little "slow", like Tim is.

Rocco

Very Good

[harrytrue · 9/10 · 31 August 2005]

"Mary and Tim" is in a lot of ways, better than the 1979 movie "Tim". One thing to note, anyone who thinks Justine is hostile in this movie (or Dawnie in the 1979 version), would be surprised by the book.

Tims' family is a aware of Marys' age in this version well than before in the book or other movie. It is a cuase of tension, but not the hostility in the two prior cases.

One difference is that this version is shot in California, as opposed to Australia. Another important version is that Mary Horton is a widow, as opposed to the two prior versions, where she was never married. As well, Mary talks about her departed mother, while in the novel, she never knew her parents.

Also, in this version, Tim is more emotionally empowered. It is him who asks Mary to marry him. Not some outsider. He also is shown to have a lot of insight into what Mary wants, well before Mary is willing to admit it to herself.

After Tim proposes marriage, before Mary responds, his father asks if he and Mary have had sex. Tim is shown as knowing about sex, although I will not say if they do have sex before marriage.

It is a very good version. I always enjoy seeing it.

Schmaltzy and unbelievable, but I loved it.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 25 April 2022]

Other than the character of the sister played by Kelli Williams, everyone in this movie is very nice. Candice Bergen is a widowed bookstore owner who hasn't allowed herself to fall in love since the death of her husband, still greatly in morning of him and her late mother. An accident in her garden leads her to ask neighbor Tom McCarthy (who was responsible in the first place) to work for her on Saturdays, and after spending some quality time with him, begins to develop feelings. McCarthy is developmentally disabled, unable to read and think as a mature adult, and thus, he has been coddled by his family his entire life. When his mom dies suddenly, father Richard Kiley decides to ask Bergen to be his son's guardian after he passes on, which ticks the suspicious Sister Williams off and brings out her controlling nature. Bergen thanks that's a relationship doesn't have a chance of surviving, but McCarthy is not about to give up on her.

An American version of the 1978 Mel Gibson film "Tim", this asks the audience to suspend disbelief that the former Murphy Brown would allow herself to get involved with a younger man with the problem is that he has that aren't always easy to deal with as his emotions are either strongly on the surface and very intense or practically absent. He's very handsome and often smart in a way that his family doesn't see, and once Bergen teaches him how to read, a whole new world opens up for him. Louise Latham as Bergen's partner at the bookstore and Maureen Mooney as her nosy bestfriend are very good, and Kiley's voice is melodious without singing about impossible dreams. As Williams character gets a lot more aggressive and openly hostile to Bergen, she becomes intolerable to watch and is the only negative aspect of this very pleasant TV film. I don't know that's such a relationship couldn't survive, but it does give the message that you only have one life and you need to be willing to take the chance.

A very special movie for personal reasons

[Havan_IronOak · 10/10 · 6 August 2002]

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?

Mary and Tim

[trinidadadams67 · 10/10 · 3 June 2005]

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.

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

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 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...

great remake

[janeybkla · 10/10 · 17 September 2002]

As much as I enjoyed Mel Gibson in TIM, I love this remake. Don't expect to see Candice Bergen's Murphy Brown. Here she is a dignified, gentle, caring woman. I will buy this movie on home video or DVD if its ever available. In fact, I'm always on the lookout for it.

sweet movie with Candice Bergen as the older woman

[fedupwithu2 · 1 May 2002]

Candice Bergen plays a contented 50-ist widow settled into her life as a single, when a slightly learning-disabled younger hunk careens into her life as the butt of a practical joke, damaging her garden. He turns out to be a talented gardener, and starts his magic on her garden, and on her. Tim's super-achiever sister marries into a wealthy family, who are, frankly, embarrassed at having a "retard" in the family. Mary (Candice Bergen) teaches Tim to read, and Tim gradually starts to experience grown-up feelings toward Mary. Thomas McCarthy is very convincing as Tim, and he plays the part with ease, and naturally. Candice Bergen is, and always has been, one of my favorite actresses, who's striking beauty has stayed with her into maturity. I saw this on the Hallmark Channel & really enjoyed the simple plot and emotional dynamics. A bit of a tear-jerker, but nice, relaxing entertainment.

Candice Bergen Shines

[donwc1996 · 10/10 · 19 October 2009]

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.

Thought this would make me uncomfortable

[libbybrown-04549 · 9/10 · 21 September 2018]

This is a fantastic movie. Reading the description, I was afraid it would make me uncomfortable, but it really didn't. It's a very lovely story, the setting is very pretty and I think the actors did a great job.

One of my favorites

[janybkla · 27 January 2001]

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.