Killing Mary Sue – Review

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“Killing Mary Sue” Film Details

• Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 38 Minutes
• Released On: Digital (Link)
• Public Release Date: June 13, 2025
• Director(s): James Sunshine
• Writer(s): James Sunshine
• Primary Language: English
• Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Crime, Young Adult
• Rating: Rated R
• Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Company

Movie Summary

Depending on who you ask, Mary Sue is disturbed. She saw her father, Ed, die in a botched convenience store robbery when she was seven, and when her mom, Janine, got married to a senator, it seems her life has been without stability. Note, her mom tries, but Senator Bradley Weiner seems to enable the worst in Mary Sue.

Enter Mary Sue, now at least in her mid-20s, who is known for getting kidnapped, drug binges, and frequenting Russia. This has become an escalating issue as Bradley seeks his 4^th term as senator, and with him having no intention to lose to Anita Koch, he is willing to go as far as to get Mary Sue killed to secure his position.

Cast and Characters

Mary Sue Harper (Sierra McCormick)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]

• Character Summary: Mary Sue lost her father when she was very young, but, luckily for her, in some ways, her mom found someone new soon after, a wealthy senator, and that’s dramatically altered Mary Sue’s life. However, seemingly not for the better, Senator Weiner enabled the monster he now wants dead, who loves drugs, rough sex, and all the things that threaten his senate campaign.

Janine (Katie Killacky)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Janine is Mary Sue’s mom, who formerly worked as a server and now spends most of her days trying to memorize the price of milk, which Bradley quizzes her on.

Ed Harper (Jason Mewes)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Ed is Mary Sue’s dad, who died when she was 7, and was a known drug addict.

Senator Bradley Weiner (Dermot Mulroney)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Senator Weiner is a multi-term senator whose politics aren’t specifically known, but it is made clear he has connections to Russia, which he uses to keep Mary Sue out of his hair.

Anita Koch (Kym Whitley)

• Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
• Character Summary: Anita is Bradley’s political opponent for his senate seat.

Carrie (Rita Rehn)

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• Character Summary: Carrie is the housemaid for Bradley and who Mary Sue appears to be closer to than her mother.

What To Expect In “Killing Mary Sue” (Not Rated) – Content Overview

• Dialog:
  • Cursing: Throughout
  • Discriminatory Language: Yes
  • Suicide Mentions: Yes
• Violence:
  • Gun Violence: Full On Battles
  • Gore/ Blood/ Body Horror: Bleeding
  • Notable Violence: Torture, Intense Fight Scenes
• Sexual Content:
  • In Dialog: Yes
• Miscellaneous:
  • Drinking: Yes
  • Drug Use: Hard Drugs
  • Vomiting: Yes
  • Smoking: Yes
  • Could This Make You Cry: No

Links

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• Official Site Link

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

As Absurd As You Can Get And Still Be Good [82/100]

From Russians, to Mary Sue finding being punched with brass knuckles being foreplay, to all the drug use and the action sequences, even killing God by accident, Killing Mary Sue is ridiculous. It takes all the seriousness you’d usually see in a movie focused on someone having a hit put on them, paired with a home invasion, just because they are inconvenient, and makes it an unabashed comedy.

And to note, Mary Sue isn’t Kevin McCallister; she isn’t a brilliant young woman able and willing to set up traps to save herself. She is initially portrayed as an incredibly lucky person who is the epitome of God looking out for babies and fools. Now, it does evolve beyond that, but even with the sparse development to explain how Mary Sue handles multiple assassins, you can’t help but squint, chuckle, and shake your head.

Why? For along the action and setup for guns blazing, you have the in between where Mary Sue just says things out of left field, which are nonsensical in the best way. This is when you start questioning what the source of all of this is? For there comes a point where, as Bradley gets increasingly frustrated with Mary Sue surviving these attacks, and you see her fawn over him like he could do no wrong, it pushes the idea that there must be far more than daddy issues here. 

On The Fence

Wish We Got More Out Of Janine [77/100]

Honestly, the only thing I can say that I wish was handled better is Janine. It takes a bit longer than I would have liked to know if Janine was a bad mom or not. In the beginning, you’re almost pushed to believe Janine got with and stayed with Bradley because he was rich, and in favor of pleasing him, she wasn’t focused on parenting – hence, Mary Sue turning out how she did.

Yet, despite how Mary Sue seems closer to the housekeeper, Carrie, in the beginning, and seeming to lack a notable relationship with her mom, it appears her mom does love her. It’s just like Mary Sue’s dad; it seems Sunshine was more focused on delivering the action and comedy than making the relationships between characters more complex than they needed to be.

Overall

Our Rating (79/100): Mixed (Divisive)

Killing Mary Sue is not for everyone, but that’s what makes it so good. It has that Adam Sandler, or early Jim Carrey, feel of being made for a certain type of humor, and for those within that circle, they love this film and will swear by it. All others? They won’t get it, look down on it, and miss out – to which no one will care because they are enjoying themselves so much.

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