Being Mary Tyler Moore (2023) User Reviews

Turn the world on with her smile

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 25 May 2023]

Greetings again from the darkness. It's borderline unfathomable that someone who has worked for almost 20 years as a cinematographer and a decade as a TV director could be "unfamiliar" with the work and career of one of the industry giants, yet that's the claim of director James Adolphus ("Soul of a Nation" mini-series) when it comes to Mary Tyler Moore. His film does play a bit as if he's opening a Christmas present that everyone else in the room knows what's under the wrapping, and it's because of this, the film works as not just a retrospective of her career, but also a tribute to a woman who influenced so many.

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" ran for 158 episodes between 1961 and 1966, and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ran for 168 episodes between 1970 and 1977. These were two immensely popular shows during their respective eras, and because of her characters in each, Mary Tyler Moore spent time as both America's favorite wife and America's favorite single woman. These characters were cutting edge (for different reasons) for their time. Director Adolphus also provides insight into her childhood and early career. Mary was first married in 1954, not long after high school graduation. She found work as 'Happy Hotpoint', the dancer on Hotpoint advertisements, and clips of the ads are included here. Even after she became a world-famous actor, she remained a dancer at heart.

Betty Friedan and "The Feminine Mystique" are referenced a few times, and the point is made, even if it's in a subtle manner, that Mary's impact on feminism has long been overlooked. We hear from such industry folks as Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Asner, James L Brooks, and Treva Silverman, as well as friends and family, but it's really Mary herself that we see on screen for the vast majority of the two-hour run time. In particular, a loose structure is formed from clips of her appearances on "The David Susskind Show" and an interview with Rona Barrett. These segments allow for some rare personal insight into Mary Tyler Moore as a person.

So many rare pictures, clips, and home movies are included that we easily follow a career that spanned 50 years ... and three marriages. The first marriage produced her only child. The second marriage, to Grant Tinker, resulted in MTM Productions and her greatest professional success. However, it was the third marriage to Dr. Robert Levine, where she found true and long-lasting love, as well as the motivation to find herself with a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic for rehab in 1984. We learn of her Broadway redemption with "Whose Life is it, anyway?", after her setback on stage many years earlier with a musical "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Probably the most surprising segment here revolves around the original pilot for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" ... it has great video and behind-the- scenes scoop.

Given her comedic chops displayed in her two most famous sitcoms, many of us were caught off guard with her Oscar nominated performance in Robert Redford's ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980). What we discover here is that Mary's personal life was nearly as rosy as Laura Petrie's or Mary Richards', and many real-life personal losses allowed her to reveal a bit more of her true self on screen. Most of us know that Mary was the female lead in Elvis Presley's final feature film, CHANGE OF HABIT (1969), but we might not have known that Carl Reiner was her comedy hero, or that her own struggles with diabetes (over decades) led her to become International Chairperson of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). For one who seemed to constantly define the contemporary woman, Mary Tyler Moore's story is impressive, and her personal archives bring more meaning to "Love is All Around."

Beginning May 26, 2023, the documentary will air on HBO and stream on MAX.

She was a TV Pioneer with huge impact... dealt with superficially here.

[drew-15194 · 7/10 · 15 June 2023]

I was one of those kids who never missed a Mary Tyler Moore show on Saturday nights. Beautiful, kind, humble, understanding, and willing to stand up for her values; watching the character Mary Richard's played by MTM was like watching life lessons on how to grow up and be a good person. And those were tough years. Society was in turmoil: Vietnam, Watergate, Civil rights, etc. Yet even as a kid I knew that show was gently, through humor, helping us deal with complexity.

That same dualism was part of who MTM was as a human being, as the documentary points out, particularly in a condescending Suskind interview that she handles beautifully. But it misses a great deal too. Her shows were not just funny, they were important milestones culturally. They were part of an era; they helped define that era. The 70s show became a huge hit, won tons of Tonys, and spun off so many shows it seemed at the time like MTM Enterprises had replaced MGM - they even spoofed the studio with a tiny cat instead of a Lion. Her impact was huge. But you don't really get a feel for that impact from this doc.

For instance, instead of spending way too much time on her last husband, which gets creepy and weird (like someone is trying really hard to prove something - he's a producer), more important to her legacy would have been more depth about her company, how those shows spun off, and her relationship with husband Grant Tinker, which is glossed over. (Jealousy?) Tinker was a huge TV influence, first through his wife then on his own. He deserved more in the doc.

Oddly enough, so did MTM. We endure overly long clips from the same interviewers, and too many voiceovers from celebrity fans. Better would have been in-depth clips from her career, especially her films, more analysis of her impact on television from the experts (not just friends), more background from Van Dyke, and more context about other iconic shows at that time: All In The Family, Rhoda, Maud, Sanford and Son, and the Jeffersons. And it would have been perfect to end, not with the last husband ad nauseum (2 appearances are sufficient, not dozens), but with that wonderful reunion of MTM, Betty, and Valerie on 'Hot in Cleveland,' her last scripted performance. It was a beautiful TV moment, like all of her work. The doc director treated his subject far too superficially.

Why Everyone Loved Mary and Still Do

[EUyeshima · 8/10 · 27 May 2023]

I still watch reruns of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" religiously, and they feel as fresh today as they did back then thanks to her. I remember how disappointed I was when she lost the Oscar for "Ordinary People" to a deserving Sissy Spacek. Yes, I've been a fan of hers since my early childhood, and even six years after her death, this 2023 documentary does a compelling job in revealing a genuinely talented woman who was deeply guarded but still unafraid to expose her personal growth to the world. Starting with a 1966 interview where she showed poise and intelligence to a misogynistic David Susskind, director James Adolphus effectively blends archival footage, home movies and stills (provided by her third husband Robert Levine, one of the film's producers), and of course, clips from her TV and movie appearances to present a more objective portrayal than a fan would allow. Yet, fans will see revealing moments around the deaths in her immediate family (her only son by gunshot, her sister by drug overdose), her relentless fight against juvenile diabetes, and even a roast from Betty White at her bridal shower. Only the audio of interview clips with friends and celebrities is used, a disappointing decision to me. Many clips are shown without explanation, but fans like me know where they come from.

being mary tyler moore

[mossgrymk · 9/10 · 24 June 2023]

A fine bio/doc of, in my opinion, the best sit com actress of the twentieth century, and a damn fine dramatic actor as well. I especially admired how director James Adolphus avoided the Talking Head Trap by having voices over clips rather than cutting away from clips to shots of talking heads talking, as most docs do. Bravo. Also, I found the voices generally well chosen, mostly interested in imparting info and perceptions about Ms. Moore rather than pushing themselves. Again, I would credit the fact that the speakers were not shown on camera for this felicitousness.

As for the tone of this documentary, it's fairly doleful, wouldn't you say? Certainly, Ms. Moore's life had its share of sadnesses, what with a cold fish dad, possibly suicidal sister and son, and alcoholic brother. But there is a core of melancholy present in all her interviews, even at their most comic. Maybe all professional funny folks are subject to this trait, but it sure is present in this gal.

My only criticism is that there is too much time spent on act three (Moore's long decline after she moved to upstate NY) and not enough on act one (her early life with her parents, and first marriage). Act two, however, cannot be improved on, especially the treatment of The Mary Tyler Moore Show's influence on American popular culture in the 70s and even more especially that culture's changing views on women and the workplace. Let's just say that this doc effectively eviscerates Gloria Steinem's monumentally dumb remark that TMTMS was "anti woman". Give it an A minus.

PS...Forgot what a pompous bore David Susskind was.

A Revealing Look Behind the Smile

[brentsbulletinboard · 8/10 · 27 May 2023]

To say that iconic actress/dancer/comedienne Mary Tyler Moore was a gifted, complicated, reserved, often-misunderstood individual is indeed an understatement. However, director James Adolphus's new HBO documentary presents a reverent, insightful and respectfully candid biography of the famed star of TV, stage and screen, showing Moore in all of her magnificent multidimensionality. As the winner of seven Emmys, three Golden Globes, a special Tony Award and the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as an Oscar nomination for her tremendous lead performance in "Ordinary People" (1980), she significantly changed the face of television comedy and demonstrated a degree of acting versatility rarely seen. In her TV roles as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, she opened doors for actresses by portraying characters who hadn't been seen on the little screen before. And, in a wider sense, in her role as Mary Richards, she significantly bolstered the growth of the women's movement in the world at large, a role she championed despite her own somewhat conventional off-screen lifestyle, a way of life for which she was often criticized by feminists. However, Moore's personal life often ran counter to the perky, cheerful on-screen persona she routinely projected, and she rarely spoke openly about the many challenges she faced - a sometimes-troubled relationship with her parents, two divorces, the loss of her only son in a gun shot accident, the untimely deaths of her two younger siblings, alcohol abuse and coping with complications from type 1 diabetes. As she aged, however, the fighter within her found ways to work through the anguish, such as choosing projects that enabled her to purge her pain, receiving treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic, becoming an advocate for her favorite causes and finding true love in a third marriage. The filmmaker tells Moore's complex, moving and inspiring story with an array of clips from her work, archive interview footage with renowned journalists and celebrities, and ample voiceover observations from those who knew her and admired her work. The narrative is admittedly somewhat straightforward and formulaic, but it presents an excellent composite of images and insights into the life and work of a legend, one that's bound to cause her to be seen in a new light and could well introduce her to a new generation of fans who may not have previously been aware of her many accomplishments. Take a bow, Mary.

Fascinating look at television history wears out its welcome

[baygelldawg · 6/10 · 17 April 2023]

Using a wealth of archive material, this documentary covers both the well-known and obscure work of Mary Tyler Moore. She was successful from day one, getting the first television job she auditioned for the day after her high school prom and then starring in two of the most loved comedies in television history.

Meanwhile, her personal life was almost unbelievable suffering and tragedy, especially in contrast to her fictional personas in the living rooms of America.

This documentary benefits from being produced by Moore's surviving husband, allowing access to home movies, personal photographs, and all the episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore Show that Moore's company (MTM) produced.

The film also suffers from being produced by Moore's husband. Her first two marriages are barely examined, but her third (to the film's producer) gets a lot of screen time late in the movie when the viewer is ready for the credits to roll.

An objective eye would have seen that this movie is about 30 minutes too long. There is an endless interview with Rona Barrett that is sampled too many times. One clip from a surreal and forgotten television special in which Moore is shown dreaming and floating in space would have been enough, but it is used over and over and over. A home movie of a wedding shower is interminable, far too much time is spent showing us Moore on the ranch she retired to, and contemporary celebrities who did not work with Moore gush about how important she was to their development.

No one seemed to realize that the "third act" of her life is the least interesting to general audiences, even if it is the most important to the producer. The end result is too much of a good thing. There is something to be said for, "Leave them wanting more."

The World - Most Definitely Turned On

[chashans · 10/10 · 1 June 2023]

It was more than just her smile that did it for me, and I was probably about 7 years old at the time. This special includes a clip from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" 1st season episode, "Washington vs. The Bunny". The "costume" Mary Tyler Moore's character, Laura Petrie, wears during Rob Petrie's dream sequence is simply ever so lovely. Most certainly an inspiration for the "dream sequences" of young boys across the ages.

This is a wonderful glance at the life and amazing career of an incredibly talented and obviously very special woman - Daughter, Wife, Mother, Actress, Producer and Friend. So many lives this woman touched or perhaps, truly graced. This special also makes it quite clear that Mary Tyler Moore was very much simply, a human being.

Included are countless clips from TV shows, films and plays she starred in. A surprise, and something I had never seen before, is a clip from a camera rehearsal of the pilot episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". My goodness, this woman had spunk!

An incredibly wonderful inclusion is that of home videos. No, they are not exactly "TV-Ready" clips. They're unprofessional, fuzzy and don't have the best sound quality. And they are amazing to watch. That these personal moments are being shared with her adoring fans here in this presentation... Well, all I can really say is, Thank You.

10 Stars, A+, 100/100. I would hope to see biographies like this of other Major Stars like this from these same Producers, etc.

Straight-forward bio-documentary lacks the element of surprise

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 1 September 2023]

As "Being Mary Tyler Moore" (2023 release; 120 min) opens, she is interviewed on the David Susskind Show in 1966, where she is being interviewed as one of the major breakout stars of The Dick Van Dyke show. We then go back in time to "Brooklyn, 1936" where MTM was borne and raised... At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from director James Adolphus. I read somewhere that supposedly he had no knowledge of Mary Tyler Moore before being hired for this project. Is that believable or even possible? In any event, Adolphus does ok, but to me it felt like it was all super-straight-forward. Yes, all the highlights are there. But where are the new insights? Maybe it is not possible to provide new insights on this TV icon. And at 2 hours, the documentary runs a bit long for its own good. Does this make it a "bad" documentary? Of course not. But it lacks the element of surprise or new insights.

"Being Mary Tyler Moore" recently started airing on HBO and streaming on Max (where I caught it). If you are a fan of MTM (as I am myself), I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

A Nice Tribute

[qsxngnktz · 8/10 · 22 April 2023]

As a lifelong Mary fan, I was excited to see "Being Mary Tyler Moore" in San Francisco last weekend. I'd give it a solid B+. The upside - lots of good material, laid out logically. A downside - a lot of it was poor video quality which I wish they could have "cleaned up" more. Unlike the previous reviewer, I LOVED the last half-hour of the film, as it provided clips of Mary and photos from her life that I hadn't seen before. If all you care about are her two most well-known TV series, you can just watch them on YouTube. What this film provided was more of a behind-the-scenes look at the real woman, who I became a fan of through watching her many interview appearances over the years. So in contrast to the previous reviewer, I sat through the first hour and a half to get to the good stuff at the end.

There were pros and cons to the use of only voice-overs for the interviewees. I liked that the video of Mary was not cut away from. The interview subjects who were close friends of Mary's may not be people that are widely recognized - I'm not sure how many people would be thrilled to watch Bill Persky or Beverly Sanders. But I will say that at times I felt like the video and audio competed - if I focused on the visual, I missed some of what the people were saying.

I felt that the theme could have been a little better laid-out. They were going for "not hiding the blue-eyed horse" - a lovely reference from Mary's autobiography that referred to letting people see your "flaws" since they make you who you are, and can be part of the beauty of your story.

I think an alternative theme that would have worked would be "the accidental role model", as time and again, Mary would be "looked to" as an example. One instance is when her trip to the Betty Ford clinic was revealed in the press, and she had to "go with it" and become a role model for recovering alcoholics.

I would have preferred more emphasis to be placed on her later life, since that is what people are less familiar with. She was an important advocate for animals, which was barely mentioned (but there were some awesome clips of her with her horses and dogs). They mentioned her work with JDRF, but to me, more details there would have been welcome. I would also love to hear more about her home life and how her family perceived her. How about a sequel - or a book?

Enjoyable Bio

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 14 July 2023]

I grew up watching "The Dick Van Dyke Show", so I was exposed to the talents of Mary Tyler Moore at a young age. At the time, I perceived that she was lovable, funny, and somewhat innocent. After watching this documentary, I think those descriptors are accurate.

This biopic provides insights into MTM's point of view throughout her career. It also tries to define her place in (mostly) TV history, as society was redefining itself in the 1960s. To that end, the documentary includes numerous quotes from notable feminists of that era, primarily to skewer her Laura Petrie role as a bad influence. This raises a couple of questions.

First, was the "Dick Van Dyke Show"---and its characters----a reflection of the changing times or a cause of change? Probably both, but primarily the former.

Secondly, if the Laura Petrie role is iconic, is it due to MTM or the producers, directors and writers of the show who defined the role and gave it life through the scripts? I can admire MTM as a person and actor without trying to make her a social icon. As we learn from the documentary, the public really knew little about MTM, the woman, at the time.

The film does illustrate how dramatically MTM evolved and became more self-actualized as she dealt with career challenges, personal tragedies, and relationship issues. It is easy to feel sympathy for her, because she always maintained a sense of humor and she always tried to improve, professionally and personally.

This might not be a very objective overview of her life, but it is enjoyable.

MOORE WAS ALWAYS MORE...!

[masonfisk · 8/10 · 4 July 2023]

A recent HBO documentary on the ultimate woman of television. Using archival footage & audio interviews, we learn of Moore, who was a dancer, who made her way to Hollywood in bit parts & who all but decided to quit the game, after a long series of rejections, before she got her seminal berth alongside Dick Van Dyke on the Dick Van Dyke show in the 1960's which showed her to be more than just a pretty face who had excellent comic timing but also became the nascent face of feminism by her insistence to wear things most women in the world wore already, like pants, became revolutionary which was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when the Mary Tyler Moore show launched in the next decade. In that incarnation, Moore became the clarion call for all independent working women out in the world as Mary Richards was the poster child for the women's movement navigating her life at a TV studio & standing up to the men in charge. Although her home life wasn't ideal (her son passed from a gun accident, her first 2 marriages went by the wayside & she accepted the fact much like her mother she was an alcoholic) she managed to get an Oscar nom for her turn in 1980's Ordinary People & racked up acclaim for a performance in the stage version of Whose Life is It Anyway? In her later years she found, in her own words, the love of her life, a doctor, marrying him who was by her side as she suffered from diabetes. HBO must've known something was in the air since this aired a few weeks after their Donna Summer doc, coupled w/the news that icon, Tina Turner, also passed (& who has a HBO doc of her own from a few years ago), making this viewing a must see but also bittersweet since in some ways a friend of the family & the world at large had gone into the great beyond.

Being Mary Tyler Moire

[Bfeins5110 · 5/10 · 27 May 2023]

I loved the actress Mary Tyler Moore. I have watched the Dick Van Dyke Shoe, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the film Ordinary People. On screen she was a wonderful actress and performer.

I only have to say that that the documentary did not get deep enough into Ms Tyler Moore's private life.

I loved everything I saw but I wished there was more. I just didn't learn enough about her that I didn't already know.

I saw that Ms Moore's sister and son died young but I wanted to learn more about Ms Moore's background.

She had a happy marriage. But she was a political conservative.

I just wanted to learn about her last years. She was let go by Neil Simon while preparing for a role on Broadway.it would have been interesting to understand what occurred as she was suffering Ming from diabetes.

Awesome Bio-Tribute

[gbyzp · 10/10 · 28 January 2024]

This is a wonderful combination biography / tribute to a woman who was an icon and a human being.

While this movie may not share anything revelatory it speaks to how Mary changed the world by emulating her beliefs through her lifelong drive and passion.

Make no mistake this movie is not a glossy fluff piece, it touches on her strained relations, alienation from her family, difficulty connecting with her son.... The loss of her son, and her alcoholism.

Her struggle is sometimes evident in the silent pauses in her interviews. Wonderfully edited, and powerfully presented.

This movie takes a real look at Mary Tyler Moore and how her personal evolution was reflected in her career choices and gives deeper meaning to her life and legacy.

While some may be disappointed that no new postmortem DIRT was shared, I found this to be an honest loving tribute.

Absolutely worth the watch.

A remarkable woman when brutal honesty, from a woman, was shunned

[malmevik77 · 10/10 · 9 February 2024]

Being Mary Tyler Moore

HBO Max put out a documentary on the life of Mary Tyler Moore. That woman lived a very interesting life having the courage to stand up to remind the country that women are not dolls to dress up all the time and serve their man as if that was their sole purpose in life. Today that idea seems ridiculous but in the 50s, 60s and 70s, that was a huge deal. I know Katharine Hepburn was famous for wearing pants in an era where dresses were the norm, but what I didn't know is that Mary Tyler Moore did the same thing when performing as Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke show. She said that she doesn't vacuum her own house in a dress, why should she do so on tv?

Another line struck me when she said that women are humans first, women second and wives third. This should be completely obvious, but it was wonderful that she had the chance to say so in a public forum.

The documentary does the usual treatment of a subject by going through their family life growing up, their relationships, their successful work on tv and film, and their unsuccessful work as well. I never found myself uninterested even though the things she said shouldn't have been controversial. Watching the documentary inspired me to go back to her old work, especially the Mary Tyler Moore show, to see all these things talked about in the documentary.

She was truly a legend, and the world lost a truly special woman upon her death.