Jesus, Mary and Joey (2006)

Too much of everything

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's about on the level of "Pat Boone talks to Teens about S-E-X" and "Tough Guys Find God".There was a story here. A tranche of Providence Italianosity. But those bits are just filler for the real story which is, I don't know, "Jesus Saves".Imagine a Catholic Woody Allen making his 1st HS film. He shows some family interaction (pretty good), then characters find a way to talk about whether or not god exists and question their own existences; introduce a sub-plot about the family store being sold (this is OK), then characters find a way to talk about whether or not god exists and question their own existences; the once ugly female lead is now a babe, then characters find a way to talk about whether or not god exists and question their own existences; keep repeating.The script is so contrived that it hurts your teeth; the characters and actors are bland; the story is right out of "Ministers talk to young people about STDs". Touchstone sucks and it's way better than this pap.It's awful and really should be a 1 or 0.

I had never heard of this movie and happened upon it. I was strangely drawn to it and found it very sweet and endearing. I enjoyed the storyline and was moved by the fact that, although the characters are all different and at times argumentative, they learn to accept one another and their differences. As a Chrsitian, I enjoyed the fact that we can embrace our differences; we have the same common goal. I thought it was definitely watchable and hope to see it again and share it with others. It is very refreshing to see a movie written by a young man, that contains this sort of content. I also appreciated that he didn't write the characters to seem perfect, yet flawed as they are, they are lovable.

This is a real disappointment for a film with such a fine cast. Despite the attempt to promote religious tolerance, understanding and disapproval of religious pretentiousness, it still comes across as an attempt to promote Anglo-American Christianity by using skeptics, who are, of course, presented as somewhat immoral characters.The film seems to be promoting a message that says "It's okay to accept others who are different then you, but only as long as they're devout, Anglo-American Christians", which, I suppose, is okay if you want to show the film in an Anglo-American church, but besides being somewhat pretentious, it's also just a boring subject.If I could re-write the script, I would re-write it so that the point it makes is that Christians aren't good people because they're Christians, but rather that good people are Christians because they're good people. This point seems to get lost in this film.

Thank God (no irony) that the producers of this film wisely decided to change it's title from the off-putting Jesus, MARY AND JOEY to the more enigmatic WELCOME BACK MISS MARY. An overtly religious film that does not discomfit by being heavy-handed, WELCOME BACK MISS MARY was written by the star, Vincent Pagano, and may well be the story of his own spiritual journey.Mary (the lovely Marley Shelton) socially resurfaces after a long absence. As it turns out, the former "scary Mary" is now a cancer survivor, and attributes much of her recovery to her faith in God. She witnesses her faith by working with young cancer patients. Although Mary is Born Again, she wants to experience life in all its facets and fullness.Vivacious, sexy and sweet, she captures the heart of Joey (Vincent Pagano), a local boy from a staunchly, energetically Italian family. Joey's colorful, riotous family is the exact opposite of Mary's, who are straitlaced to the point of painfulness.As Joey's feelings for Mary grow, he adopts a kind of shrill religiosity that grates badly on his friends and family, and takes a Wall Street job offered to him by Mary's disapproving father, both to give the boy a leg up in life and to separate him from Mary. Made unhappy by his choices and the circumstances of his life, Joey experiences a crisis of faith.Vincent Pagano' script is touching, funny and wistful, as well as being utterly sincere. Joey's (and Mary's) respective questions of faith are well-addressed here and never become leaden, not least of all because Mary lacks any pretentiousness or self-righteousness. She merely believes---questions the why, but has faith in the how of the universe.This reviewer is generally not a fan of religious-based programming but enjoyed this film, so take that as a definite endorsement.For a "little" film, WELCOME BACK MISS MARY has a stellar cast which includes Stacy Keach, Charles Durning, Olympia Dukakis, and of course the aforementioned Vincent Pagano and Marley Shelton.