Matchmaker Mary

guaranteed to make you feel good
This is a marvelous little indie film that's liable to steal your heart and leave you smiling with its simple yet profound message about loving and caring for one another. The story revolves around seventh-grader Mary, three adorable animal-shelter puppies, and the six adults who come together thanks to Mary's well-meaning matchmaking efforts. The filmakers wisely eschew typical over-the-top, razzle-dazzle Hollywood production values in order to concentrate on telling a sweet story in a straightforward, uncomplicated way that most viewers will relate to personally. All the characters are well acted but ultimately this film belongs to the charming young newcomer Katherine McNamara who plays the title role of Mary. She is so natural, sincere, and irresistibly likeable in every scene in which she appears that it's easy to root for her and the success of her character's innocent schemes. Let's hope that we see more of Katherine McNamara in future films.

Solid Family Film just a bit weak on plot
Perhaps directed at the teen audience. Definitely approved for family friendliness. Good moral basics but no preaching. It just seems this 12 year old Mary, a naive matchmaker, who mates dogs with owners as well as people, is a bit far fetched. But sometimes that's fun. So give this newcomer star a break. After all from here, Katherine McNamara has snagged more jobs, & will be Becky Thatcher in a 2013 "Tom Sawyer." She did as good a job as seasoned professionals. That's one of the fun things about viewing these lower budget films, see stars in the making.

Can't complain about the acting of vets like animal rescuer Banks (Jeff Fahey-convincing as the Dr. in `Marriage Retreat') and of course bubbly Aunt Karen (Dee Wallace-`10' `ET' + lots) who buddies up with Mary on matchmaking attempts. It was she that matched Mary's parents together originally. Now they struggle. This marital discord part of the storyline seems to get remedied much too easily. And too many loves at 1st...

Disappointing
We found this movie at our local library, and I'm glad we didn't waste money renting or buying it. Being a Pureflix film, we were expecting a lot more. The acting doesn't have to be superb for us to enjoy a movie, but there were other things that we just didn't like.

First of all the music is so loud that you can barely hear what anyone is saying. But the most important points are: For a family movie, I found it disturbing that Aunt Karen was trying to pick a "sexy" dress for her date. Also, a couple of scenes where cleavage is shown...so unnecessary. We have three young daughters and I didn't appreciate the fact that the girl in this movie walked up to a strange man alone and took him by the hand. In this day and age that just isn't wise.

I can't recommend this movie as a family movie.

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