This Christian movie was a big disappointment. I'm a Christian, so I do appreciate clean, faith-based movies. I also realize that Christian movies are mostly low-budget, so I give them the benefit of the doubt. But I was struggling during the whole movie to figure out what the point was. Why was I even spending nearly 2 hours of my time on this film?
I did like Masey McClain's performance as Lillian. You really felt her pain, fear and anguish as she tried to find her missing boyfriend, hoping, against hope, that he was still alive. The other performances in the movie were mostly duds. Oscar Mansky as vanished boyfriend Brad was particularly bad. I also think he was horribly miscast. He was supposed to be this former bad boy who had reformed. He needed to be a lot more edgy, but he mostly came across as a boy scout. There also wasn't a lot of chemistry between Brad and Lillian. I really wasn't feeling the love, even when he made the big confession that he loved her.
But my biggest problem with this movie was that, as a Christian movie, it lacked a really compelling Christian message. It talked about how Lillian had saved Brad from continuing down a bad path, and how her Christian friend group had accepted him. But you didn't ever see the effects of new-found Christian faith on his life. And his horrible past life didn't even seem that bad. So, he and his friends broke into people's houses and ate some of their food. Not very earth-shattering. The detective hinted at a serious rap sheet in his past, but gave no specifics. The story needed him to be a kid who had been into drugs, done some serious crimes and spent time in juvenile hall. If this was supposed to be a tale about his redemption, it was pretty weak.
Was this story mainly about Lillian dealing with loss? If that was the point, they should have found Brad's dead body, or they should have found him back with druggie friends, stoned out or something. But, no. They come up with this stupid, unbelievable ending, where he goes back to live with and support his dying bio mom. And so, he was never in any real danger. He was just a jerk, who never even thought to contact Lillian, his adoptive family or anyone, letting them at least know he was okay. Even worse was Brad's brother Chris. He participated in searches for Brad and even sought out and befriended Lillian, when the whole time, he knew exactly where Brad was and could have told them anytime. Why was he even in the story? You got the impression that he might eventually step in as Lillian's new boyfriend when Brad ended up dead or whatever. But no. And at the end, she didn't end up with Chris, or with Brad. And, after so much anguish and searching, and now finding Brad alive and still in love with her, she just rejected him! Sure, he should've told her where he was. But he was helping his dying mom. That's at least a somewhat noble excuse. How could she not get back together with the guy? If she had said, "Sorry, I don't love you any more", or "Sorry, I've moved on", that would be one thing. But she just left without explanation, mouthing a weak "I forgive you" out of his earshot. If forgiveness was the message here, that was handled extraordinarily badly as well.
So, this movie was a big miss for me. Weak production values. Weak acting. Weak screenplay. Those are a given with most Christian movies. But a faith-based movie not even delivering a coherent, impactful Christian message, heavy-handed or otherwise? That's pretty unforgiveable. Have the movie be about redemption. Have it be about grace. Have it be about forgiveness. Have it be about something, anything meaningful, for crying out loud! That's all we Christians expect from your movie.
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