Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

BaileySEA Why did the histories of Mary and Rhoda have to be so dour? Divorced women with indifferent daughters. And why very little reference to the original show and characters? The daughter characters were silly and uninteresting. Why can't there ever be daughters who like their mother's on TV? It makes sense that Mary would leave Minneapolis, and Rhoda would return to NYC, but why couldn't Phyllis or Sue Ann Nivens be guest stars? It just seems a pitiful way to remember such wonderful characters. It was good to see Mary and Rhoda together of course, but it could have been better, much better. Well, there has been a Mary Tyler Moore Show Reunion, a Dick Van Dyke Show Reunion, hopefully Mary will do better next time if she revisits her old Mary Richards stomping grounds again.

Stefan Kahrs This film is not devoid of charm and also shows a bit of warmth, but ultimately this effort is too vain and too strongly focussed on the leads. There is no doubt that Mary Tyler Moore knows what to do with all her screen time but she takes too much of the limelight away from the rest of the cast.Another problem is the overburdening of the script with cliches. The daughter who secretly drops out of college, an older woman finding it difficult to get a good job (and first ends up with fairly demeaning work), the sleazy network executive with his executive toys who goes for glitz over substance, the journalist who sticks up for her beliefs, etc. There is nothing really wrong with any of these, i.e. they are all firmly rooted in reality, but in combination they are just too much and leave us with too much deja-vu and too few surprises.

Jack Yan Most TV reunion movies don't do well: The Brady Bunch Reunion, Return to Mayberry, Dynasty: The Reunion. They fail to capture the spirit of the originals but nostalgia drives us to watch and makes us enjoy.I love The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I think Rhoda is excellent. So logically Mary & Rhoda should combine the best of both, 20 years on, and also show us how women in their late 50s and early 60s would fare. Both of the original shows were fairly realistic in 1970s sitcom-land, dealing with many issues, which is why they have their fair share of a youth audience as well. And, we knew that Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond were amongst star and executive producer Mary Tyler Moore's favorites so it was probably fair to expect some sassy and fun writing.After viewing it in mid-February, all I can say is: bring back creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns. This movie needed them.It's not too bad when one doesn't view it as a comedy or expect the same spirit that made the originals so popular. I might not be 60 but Mary & Rhoda doesn't seem to ring as true as the originals which dealt with life for a thirty-something before thirtysomething. OK: so we don't watch TV for realism. It's about entertainment.Maybe it's my expectations, but I didn't find too much entertainment, either. The brilliant Valerie Harper was severely underutilized: in 2000 she is the one who turned the movie on with her smile and had by far and away the best lines. But why wasn't she on more often? Mary Tyler Moore gave a good and honest performance but both women would have excelled given a more humorous script by Katie Ford. I know fellow fans found the daughters (Joie Lenz, Marisa Ryan) a little less than pleasing but they weren't too bad, with a pleasant screen presence. Put simply, the script lacked irony, sassiness and humor. Or even originality. The angle Mary & Rhoda took on the news business has been done before in Murphy Brown (and director Barnet Kellman is best known to me for his contributions to that series); the stand-up comedy sub-plot was again a case of been-there-and-done-that-better-by-others. I know Mary Tyler Moore works tirelessly for causes such as homeless animals but the homeless dog scenes seemed an afterthought.There were some fantastic lines although there was no mention of Joe Gerard, Brenda, Lou Grant or any of the original characters, even for two friends reuniting after 20 years.The score by David Kitay was too noticeable. The issue of royalties aside, a few instrumentals of the original theme would have worked in places where we had to put up with Joan Jett's rendition of Love Is All Around – while popular amongst many viewers I found it too different! The production design wasn't perfect: Mary's 'M' in her apartment was reversed – looks like someone failed Typography 101.It's not that nice touches were absent. The photography and editing were acceptable. The two actresses are clearly friends off-screen as well although more interaction between the two would have been welcome. They deserved so much better than this.

luke-31 "Mary And Rhoda" is an excellently written reunion of two of t.v.'s best loved women, Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern. Both Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper settle perfectly back into their parts, and they are surrounded by a wonderful, capable cast. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, it's all great fun. Like visiting old friends years later. All in all, this is my 2nd favorite reunion movie of all time. ("A Very Brady Christmas" is still #1).