'Being Mary Tyler Moore' review: Decent overview, but nothing new

Mary — we've all long been on a first-name basis — was beloved and loved, and that's just the way it is (to paraphrase another icon from way back then). 

So why the pleasure of this long and adoring portrait that adds nothing to a deeper understanding of her? Those pleasures come in the form of a few familiar clips that serve as enduring reminders of MTM's charisma and talent. Otherwise, the ticktock of her life dutifully rolls by, with the facts as well-worn as an old vinyl LP. Growing up in Brooklyn. Early career struggles in L.A. The big break on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." The stratospheric success in the follow-up series. The marriage to TV executive Grant Tinker (and the end of that marriage). The move to New York, and Broadway, and finally, her marriage to Levine, the heart surgeon 18 years her junior, and who — along with Waithe — is also a producer of this film.

 Waithe leans heavily into a pair of late '70s/early '80s interviews Moore conducted with David Susskind and Rona Barrett, neither particularly revealing because by the time she did them, Moore had mastered the art of crafting answers that served her carefully structured public image. Susskind and Barrett look helpless in the master's presence.

Indeed, searching for "the real Mary Tyler Moore" — the "being" of the title — seems like a vaguely absurd ambition for any film because the "real" one was obviously the sum of her accomplishments. But searching for something original to say about her is not. Nevertheless, Waithe's attempts are vague or contradictory. For example, did "The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970-77) really shape the debate over women's rights, culminating in Roe v. Wade (1973)? Or was that influence overstated, or incidental, as Moore herself seemed to believe? Moore clearly saw herself as a role model, but as a reluctant one — a human being with contradictory impulses who didn't fit comfortably within someone's idealized view of her.

Waithe and Levine are also part of this story, albeit glancingly. Hinting at another angle — or another film altogether — Waithe says late in this one that she too was inspired by Moore. Yet how did this talented filmmaker and comic, who grew up gay, black and poor in Chicago — born nearly decade after "The MTM Show's" run — come to see her as a role model?

And who exactly is Robert Levine, now 68, the keeper of her flame?

Those are certainly compelling questions, maybe (who knows?) interesting films too. At least they're the ones I'd have rather seen.