Mary and Max

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2:03

Mary and Max

2009

1h 32m

Drama

Comedy

Animation

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

67 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

A lonely Australian girl (Toni Collette) and an elderly Jewish man (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in New York develop an unlikely friendship through letters.

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Critics Consensus

Mary and Max is a lovingly crafted, startlingly inventive piece of animation whose technical craft is equaled by its emotional resonance.

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Kate Muir

The Times (UK)

This clay animation feels as if it was written by the early Woody Allen. Actually the genius behind it is Adam Elliot, who wrote, designed and directed this eccentric, wryly funny story.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 16, 2014

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Mark Fisher

Sight & Sound

Ultimately, Mary and Max is about correspondence and lack of correspondence, about how our images and fantasies about others fail to match up to what they are like, and about the constitutive gaps and misfirings in any communicational practice.

Jun 18, 2012

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John Walsh

Independent (UK)

It's a 20-year story that absorbs and beguiles, despite the ugly subject matter.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 22, 2010

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David Griffiths

Subculture Entertainment

Films as brilliant as ‘Mary And Max’ don’t come along very often. If I had to grade it out of ten I would give it one hundred.

Rated: 5/5

Oct 29, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The ugly duckling characters share thoughts of anxiety, addiction, depression, and feelings of severe displacement within the world. This is dark and very heavy, but very Harold and Maude stuff.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 30, 2023

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Guillem Martinez Oya

Cinematismo

A beautiful story of friendship, forgiveness, love, and humanity although the differences. A humanistic story. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 4/5

Mar 6, 2021

Full Review

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Y K

Have to be one of best stop animation movies in history. Have to be I swear!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/10/25

Full Review

m s

The recent "snail" movie was good, but this one is so much better!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/26/25

Full Review

TROYS S

Mary And Max is original, personal, funny and moving; a film of warmth and compassion from a major artist.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/12/25

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Tim S

“Mary and Max” is a touching, humorous , dark, stop motion animated movie directed by Adam Elliot that tells the story of a long communicative pen pal relationship that started in 1976. Following the story of a lonely 8 year old girl, Mary from Australia, who one day randomly selects a name and address from a New York telephone directory and sends a letter. Max a 40 year old obese loner who lives in the suburbs of Manhattan suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. Max who had never had a friend other than an imaginary friend one day receives a strange letter that immediately upon reading sent him into a state of panic and anxiety. After a period of calm Max decides to reply to the letter and thus begins a rather strange exchange of information from two lonely and abused people both Worlds and ages apart. “Mary and Max” explores loneliness, disability and abuse with humour and a clever incisive script with no fear to address obvious obstacles like age, alcohol dependency and bullying. Heart warming, upsetting and moving with dry humorous narration by the legendary Barry Humphries.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/06/25

Full Review

Adrían C

Es impresionante como en una película animada meten a un personaje con asperger y una niña solitaria y la convierten en una maravillosa obra maestra del stop motion. Ojalá haya una segunda película

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/06/25

Full Review

Oaklee D

A charming film that is heart warming and emotional. Adam Elliot knocks it out of the ball park yet again.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/25/25

Full Review

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Adam Elliot

Director

Toni Collette

Mary Daisy Dinkle

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Max Jerry Horovitz

Eric Bana

Damien

Barry Humphries

Narrator

Bethany Whitmore

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Mary and Max: Trailer 2

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Mary and Max: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A lonely Australian girl (Toni Collette) and an elderly Jewish man (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in New York develop an unlikely friendship through letters.

Director: Adam Elliot
Producer: Melanie Coombs
Screenwriter: Adam Elliot
Production Co: Melodrama Pictures
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 27, 2016
Runtime: 1h 32m

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