Jesus, Mary and Joey

The Joey of the title is Joey Vitello (Vincent Pagano), a young man living with his tight-knit Italian-American family while searching for a career. Mary is Mary O’Callahan (Marley Shelton), an old classmate of Joey’s who returns from a long absence, and the two re-connect at church. He soon learns that Mary has miraculously survived life-threatening cancer—and that’s where Jesus comes in. Although Joey is Catholic, he never thought much about his beliefs, until Mary shows him what faith can do, leading him to an over-the-top reaction. Though the Italian-American backdrop is overused and cliché-ridden, the cast is solid, and the story entertains up to its predictable but positive conclusion.

Shelf Talk: Jesus, Mary and Joey was originally titled Welcome Back Miss Mary when it appeared on Showtime back in 2006. This re-titling plays up the faith-based aspects of the film, so it would be best promoted as such by grouping it with other faith titles. But the large and relatively well-known cast—including Jennifer Esposito, Olympia Dukakis, Hallie Kate Eisenberg and Jason Gedrick—gives the film broader appeal than its categorization would suggest.