Including me. I went to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it.
Mary Louise Parker ("Angels in America") really stood out for me as the protagonist Mary's mother. I thought she was the emotional center of the film -- the one the audience looked to to know what was right. Martin Donovan is a stitch as Pastor Skip.
I actually thought the film was a little tougher on Hillary-Faye, Mandy Moore's overly-evangelical character, than it needed to be, but I also thought it showed her as someone who was just trying to do the right thing, even though you hated her for it. A fully-realized character, very well-played and directed.
I am a left-wing atheist with spiritual leanings, and I loved it! Big laughs throughout, including the one where Cassandra asks Roland, Why does any Christian girl go to a Planned Parenthood Clinic. They've kept it out of the trailer, thanks goodness because it's a lovely surprise. They do have Hillary-Faye's hysterical line, "I - crashed -my van into Jesus!!"
I thought the direction was excellent, and the script teriffic. There's a part where pregnant Mary is about to go to the hospital in an ambulance, and there's only room for one person. It's a huge laugh, funny and moving, and the timing is perfect.
There were two people during the Q&A at the MD Film Festival who had had experience with Christian schools. One had attended as a student, and was quite emotional and resentful as she told Brian Dannelly that he had gotten it just right. The other was a parent whose daughter had gone to a Christian school, and she said it was accurate also, and she was also emotional and resentful of what she seemed to think the school had done to her daughter.
I think this movie is going to do very very well. I hope it does.
Mary Louise Parker ("Angels in America") really stood out for me as the protagonist Mary's mother. I thought she was the emotional center of the film -- the one the audience looked to to know what was right. Martin Donovan is a stitch as Pastor Skip.
I actually thought the film was a little tougher on Hillary-Faye, Mandy Moore's overly-evangelical character, than it needed to be, but I also thought it showed her as someone who was just trying to do the right thing, even though you hated her for it. A fully-realized character, very well-played and directed.
I am a left-wing atheist with spiritual leanings, and I loved it! Big laughs throughout, including the one where Cassandra asks Roland, Why does any Christian girl go to a Planned Parenthood Clinic. They've kept it out of the trailer, thanks goodness because it's a lovely surprise. They do have Hillary-Faye's hysterical line, "I - crashed -my van into Jesus!!"
I thought the direction was excellent, and the script teriffic. There's a part where pregnant Mary is about to go to the hospital in an ambulance, and there's only room for one person. It's a huge laugh, funny and moving, and the timing is perfect.
There were two people during the Q&A at the MD Film Festival who had had experience with Christian schools. One had attended as a student, and was quite emotional and resentful as she told Brian Dannelly that he had gotten it just right. The other was a parent whose daughter had gone to a Christian school, and she said it was accurate also, and she was also emotional and resentful of what she seemed to think the school had done to her daughter.
I think this movie is going to do very very well. I hope it does.