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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing Modern Retelling of the Nativity Story, October 10, 2002
John Hamilton has produced one of the most original versions of the Christian Nativity story in quite some time. Hamilton begins with the premise, "What if we were still waiting for Christmas?" and he succeeds in making a film that is by turns heart warming, heart wrenching, and, finally, joyous. By setting the biblical account of Mary and Joseph in contemporary New York, Mr. Hamilton confronts his audience with the news of the impossible. The film begins with Mary being told by her doctor that her pregnancy test came back positive, a fact she finds incredible because she is a virgin. Through watching how the parents, friends, and neighbors of Mary and Joe react to this unmarried pregnant high school senior, and how Mary and Joe deal with this reality personally, we are given the opportunity to evaluate our own reactions to such a claim. The writer and director of MARY AND JOE is obviously no skeptic, but he is no peddler of evangelical kitsch either. John Hamilton has produced a serious though not stuffy film examining the miracle of the Incarnation.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Amazing thoughtful movie, December 22, 2002
This review is from: Mary and Joe (DVD)
This is an incredible re-telling of a familar story. This movie asks the question "what if we were still waiting for the messiah?" In this movie..Our adorable couple Mary and Joe (who are totally devoted to "waiting for marriage") find themselves in the most amazing storyline. God has heard the prayers of His people and has sent "the Messiah" to a young NY woman from the house of David. She must somehow tell the man she loves that God has told her - she is pregnant with the Messiah. From the first minute you can not help but love "Mary and Joe". Mary is so fresh, young, full of life... Joe is so in love with her.. The casting of the two lovebirds is what makes this film so great and the story is so powerful. It makes you consider - how did the real "Mary and Joe" feel going thought everything leading up to that awesome night. More than anything this movie really makes you think.. which is what I consider the ear mark of a great film.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can we handle a miracle in our day?, October 10, 2002
What if Jesus were born in the year 2002 to a young Jewish couple in New York City, instead of Bethlehem two millennia ago? Mary is an 18-year-old high school senior, and Joe, her fiancé, is 23, working hard to get Techweb established as an Internet consulting firm. Would anyone believe Mary and Joe's claim to abstinence? What kind of advice would they receive from family, friends, neighbors, and folks at the corner deli? Spurning her mother's insistence that she get on with her life, Mary is thrown out of the house, rejected by Joe, and expelled from school as she grows larger with child. Her family doctor is baffled; his examination reveals her story to be true! Mary goes to live with her beautician cousin in a crowded apartment, and begins to lose heart. But a sassy Hispanic angel in a Mets cap and jacket wrestles Joe in an alleyway and makes him listen to the divine message of the miraculous, "Fear Not." The couple is reunited and together face a hostile and unbelieving world. "Mary and Joe" makes the traditional Christmas story impossible to ignore. Instead of putting the holy couple's story back in antiquity, at a sort of a Hallmark-card safe distance, "Mary and Joe" asks: What if we were still waiting for Christmas? By imagining what would happen if such a miracle were to occur in our day, to two young New Yorkers in this case, the Christmas story becomes provocative and inescapable. We must decide--is this for real? Could this story be true? It's a great concept, with unusual twists and turns, and a feel-good ending that promises to make this a perennial holiday classic--move over, "It's a Wonderful Life"!
People of all ages and backgrounds are drawn to the character of Mary--probably the most famous woman who ever lived. I think it's impossible to watch even the first five minutes of this picture without being drawn right in--we have to know what happens next!
Chock full of ethnic flavor, whimsy, doubt, faith, joy and wonder, Mary and Joe is a delightful surprise, as the old story is brought into the present with startling freshness and power.
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