lmandorla I'm sure why this film was never popular or well-recognized. It's just so good. I accidentally found it and felt like discovering treasure. It's so original. Totally in love with it and wonder why haven't they make more like it.

classicsoncall I can't say that this movie wasn't creatively done or didn't have some interesting thoughts to pursue with the principal characters. But to get there, you had to wade through such depressing topics as atheism, alcoholism, anti-Semitism, pre-teen sexual advice, self medicating one's troubles with drugs and booze, and suicide as a possible solution to life's troubles. And lest one can't figure out the film maker's liberal bias in dealing with these subjects, he throws in a slam at former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani by calling the mayor in this story 'Ridiculani'. The 'love yourself' message, which is a good one, sort of gets lost in the hodge-podge of letter writing activity between Mary and Max, and since the correspondence occurred over a span of twenty years, the thought that kept springing into my mind was why neither one of them came up with the idea to visit the other before so much time passed, and then in the end it was too late. The picture held out so much promise when Mary first wrote and voiced those words in my summary line to Max in her very first letter. Too bad it had to end as such a downer of a story.

Anssi Vartiainen A movie such as this one is a rare treat. A completely original - albeit inspired by the director's own life - movie from a first-time feature-length director that completely blows you away with its uniqueness, wit and charm. Mary and Max tells the story of its titular characters. Mary being a lonely Australian girl living with her two dysfunctional parents. One of them an alcoholic and the other a complete shut-in practically living in the backyard shed. One day Mary, on a childish whim, decides to write to a random American person. Except that the person on the other side decides to write back. He's Max, an obese forty-something man living alone in New York and suffering from crippling mental health problems.Sound creepy and depressing? Yeah, it does. And yet the thing is, this is one of the most heartwarming and sympathetic movies I've seen in my life. It's also one of the funniest. It is said that something cannot be funny without someone suffering. And boy is that true here. The film's humour is amazingly dark, drawing most of its laughs from the sheer dysfunctionality of its characters and their feeble attempts at improving their lot in life. And yet... yet it is never mean spirited. Mary and Max suffer, that much is true, but they very rarely let it get to them. And when they do, it's a genuinely sorrowful moment because at that point it's more than earned. And thus the movie is about living your life and finding happiness despite everything standing in your way. It's about individuality, about human worth, about friendship and the purpose of caring.It's also phenomenally well-made. It's stop-motion clay animation from start to finish with heavy emphasis being put on the use of colour, facial animation and stuff actually being there. And it looks gorgeous. A true testament to the strength of craftsmanship in this age of computer effects.Mary and Max is a true masterpiece. A film juggling both light and dark, examining both the best and worse qualities of human existence, all with a kind voice and a gentle laugh. A film no one's going to regret seeing.

Georgi Dianov Georgiev The Lumière brothers should be proud of Max and Mary (2009) - Top Rated Movies #179. At the end of the day, they created 'cinema' so that it develops to such a degree that it brings us masterpieces like this animation-comedy-drama. In here, observers get satisfied with three components: the art of clay animation/ Claymation (1), the 'admirable and sudden' friendship between Mary Daisy Dinkle and Max Jerry Horovitz (2), along with all unexpected and comical idiomatic expressions (3), such as "Mary Dinkle's eyes were the colour of muddy puddles. Her birthmark, the colour of poo." or "Butts are bad because they wash out to sea, and fish smoke them and become nicotine-dependent". And, in addition to this, spectators are also able to enjoy the way in which these two characters cultivate their friendship following the antiquated "letter-box-way", without any kind of technology. Surely, the beauty of Adam Elliot's 92 minutes comes from the latter perspective.It is intriguing to take part of the 'reading letters' connection between Australia (Mary) and the United States (Max) now that societies have changed their ways of communicating. Perhaps, if they have used Skype or WhatsApp, it would not have been as accurate as it ended being. It is undoubtedly much better the way they imagine the other with letters, pictures and sweets, than sending videos or sharing mobile calls. To put it briefly, this movie is like a book, and if it was made with the latest trends of XXI century, it was going to be like any Netflix series. However, because of the fact that each of them is located in the back of beyond, cinema-goers are under pressure all movie long. Who does not want to see these two weirdos together? It would have been great, would not it? Notwithstanding, despite their unhappy and boring lives (we all have our own problems in this busy world) they find enough time to write and share their stories. Nowadays, the world is full of 'plastic people' and one never know if it is better to share some story with a relative or acquaintance than with someone in the boonies. As it says at the end of the film, "God gives us our relatives, thank God we can choose our friends." (Ethel Watts Mumford), which clearly means that sometimes it is even better to choose a stranger because of all the trouble one could receive and save from a closer friend. To conclude, it should be pointed out that plenty of every-day-life personalities are shown during the movie. We all have met, or even are currently dealing with that elderly man or woman, that beggar, the presumptuous lady, the people at the bus station, the typical neighbour, and on and on. They are all pawns in our daily basis – they just seem to be the responsible ones for some of our actions. Despite that, we truly need to concentrate in the ones that make us 'happy' and fulfilled, like it does Max or Mary, because we are all strange and the only thing we need is to find the ones that are ready to jump on the same train – our soul mate. P.S. My rating is 10 out of 10. P.P.S. "Scent of a Woman" (1992) was my favourite movie. P.P.P.S. Mary and Max it is now replacing its place.