THE HAIL MARY

Name: THE HAIL MARY
Item: THE HAIL MARY
Author: Review

"Not a Touchdown, But Touching and Inspiring"

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

THE HAIL MARY is an impressive and touching Catholic comedy. It tells the story of a no-nonsense nun named Sister Kathleen who finds an alcoholic handyman named Jake Bauer in need of a job. So, she hires him to be the janitor at Mary Immaculate Catholic School and tries to convince him to train her students to play football. Jake accepts but must contend with his own crisis of faith that involves a tragic past. Can he teach these underdogs the sport and focus on what truly matters in life?

THE HAIL MARY is a moving and unexpected Catholic comedy with good performances, strong writing and directing, and a powerful message about forgiveness. The movie has a strong Christian, moral worldview with many positive references to God, Jesus and prayer. A character refers to another as an answer to prayers. Several characters promote and practice helping others who suffer from loneliness, prayer, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and honesty. THE HAIL MARY has brief foul language, some verbal insults, brief violence, a few suggestive references, and some drunkenness. So, MOVIEGUIDE® suggests light caution for younger children.

Content:

(CCC, BBB, PP, L, V, N, AA, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian, moral worldview with many positive references to God and Jesus and prayer, plus nuns run a school with the help of two Franciscan friars, a person references good coming out of a bad situation, character remarks that miracles happen and that winning souls is more important that winning itself, character quotes Jesus, a person refers to another person an answer to prayer, people talk about feeling the presence of God inside a chapel, the St. Francis prayer comes out of a music box and characters sing it, people celebrate Christmas and one person places the Baby Jesus in the Nativity manger, nun holds a rosary and prays the Hail Mary, many statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary are in a garden, people promote and practice helping others who suffer from loneliness with prayer, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and honesty, plus there are overt America, patriotic elements with a flag depicted and a band playing the National Anthem;

Foul Language:

One “h” obscenity but the character corrects themselves and says, “heck,” and a character curses but it’s hard to make out exactly what the person’s saying, plus hear a person says, “Stick it where the sun don’t shine,” two instances of jerk, one instance shut up, one stupid, and someone almost takes the name of Jesus in vain;

Violence:

Schoolboys fight, and one character gets bloody lips from it, and plenty of football tackles occur with one of them resulting in a death;

Sex:

No sex but a man calls a woman “Wow” and hot, and someone jokes about a “tight end”;

Nudity:

Some partial upper male nudity;

Alcohol Use:

Characters drink beer and get drunk, and one person drinks wine from a glass;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

The religious order has a loose attitude toward wearing a nun’s habit or not, a character lies three times about not knowing anything about football, an amusement park ride is called “Possessed,” boys misbehave but are rebuked, an underage boy sneaks in a bar, but an adult rebukes him, and one boy admits to stealing a car.

More Detail:

THE HAIL MARY is an impressive and touching Catholic comedy about a no-nonsense nun named Sister Kathleen who finds an alcoholic handyman named Jake Bauer in need of a job. So, she hires him to be the janitor at Mary Immaculate Catholic School and tries to convince him to train her students to play football. Jake accepts but must contend with his own crisis of faith that involves a tragic past. Can he teach these underdogs the sport and focus on what truly matters in life?

The movie begins with Sister Kathleen running on Mary Immaculate school grounds while a woman takes a drunk Jake Bauer to his house and tells him not to drive his car. Sisters Kathy and Margaret Anthony check on the heater situation, and another nun tells them she can’t fix it. After Jake falls asleep in his car, a police officer asks him for his license and registration.

Sisters Kathleen and Margaret Anthony go to the plumbing company later in the morning. While the nuns wait, they overhear Jake’s boss, Mr. Russell, fire Jake from the company. Jake leaves, and Kathleen asks Margaret Anthony to wait in the car and pray 20 Hail Marys. Kathleen gets summoned to see Mr. Russell.

Margaret Anthony prays a Hail Mary inside a car while she witnesses Jake throw a tantrum next to a dumpster. Kathleen enters the vehicle, and Margaret Anthony asks her if they’re going to fix their heater, and Kathleen says not until they pay the bills. Kathleen says that the Virgin Mary was probably busy somewhere else, and Margaret Anthony agrees and says Mary was probably worried about Jake. Kathleen steps out of the car and asks Jake to help her fix the heater and after appealing to his jobless problem and pleading for her desperate need at the school, he reluctantly agrees.

THE HAIL MARY is a moving and unexpected Catholic comedy with good performances, strong writing and directing, and a powerful message about forgiveness and honoring the dead. Writer, director and star Daniel Roebuck delivers the acting chops necessary for the role of an atheist with huge regret in Jake Bauer. Marsha Dietlein Bennett delivers wit and charm as Sister Kathleen. The banter between Roebuck and Bennet works wonders and both actors have electric chemistry that leaps off the screen. The ending will move viewers powerfully, because the movie doesn’t go where people think it will.

That said, THE HAIL MARY could have used a lot more character development to help viewers sympathize with the characters a lot more. Also, some of the acting, especially from the some of the children, slightly misses the mark. However, THE HAIL MARY will still delight Protestant and Catholics alike with a universal and unpolarizing conclusion.

THE HAIL MARY has a strong Christian, moral worldview with many positive references to God, Jesus and prayer. For example, nuns run a school with the help of two Franciscan friars. A character references good coming out of a bad situation. A person says miracles happen and that winning souls is more important than winning itself. A person quotes Jesus. Another person calls another character as an answer to prayers. Characters talk about feeling the presence of God inside a chapel. The St. Francis prayer comes out of a music box and characters sing it. Characters celebrate Christmas and one of them places the Baby Jesus in the Nativity manger. A nun holds a rosary and prays a Hail Mary. Many statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary are in a garden. Characters promote and practice helping others who suffer from loneliness with prayer, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, and honesty. Because of some language, violence, suggestive references, drunkenness, and some lack of correction, MOVIEGUIDE® suggests media-wisdom to discuss.