I tried to go into this film with an open mind. That lasted about five minutes. See, I was just plumb excited to watch a good ol' fashion wholesome Christian film; instead, I got this God-forsaken piece of cinematic crap. From the moment the leading lady, Sherie is introduced as "Sure-Ree," I was done with this movie.
Here's the thing, this isn't a film like "The Room" which is well-known for its craptastic filmmaking, rather, this film is actually watched...by Christian fundamentalists. It follows teenage dancer (wholesome ballet, not like the Devil's damned ballroom nonsense,) Sure-Ree, who, upon collapsing discovers she is in the late stages of leukemia. After the first mention of her terminal disease, it is only briefly re-mentioned when necessary to continuing the plot. Anyway, Sure-Ree has cancer and gets magical powers; she can bring people to God using the power of her mind. Confused yet?
Oh, it gets so much better.
Sure-Ree's dad, who looks like a majorly bloated Beau Bridges, helps Sure-Ree gather a flock to shepherd into God's loving hands. Of course, all this Jesus-lovin' pisses off Satan. Satan wears contacts and a trench coat. The trench coat proves he's evil.
Long story short, Satan tries to stop Sure-Ree, but *spoiler* fails. God triumphs over everything, peace and love, blah, blah, blah.
People eat this shit up like it is candy. This movie was so saccharine and full of meaning it hurt. I wanted to love this movie for all that it was, but I just couldn't. Where "The Room" made me laugh and even inspired me a little bit, this film really pissed me off. It uses film to manipulate. Any attempt at art is overshadowed by its overwhelming sentiment.
"Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them." - Pauline Kael
The trailer was odious.
ReplyDeleteDoes this film really have a substantial evangelical audience? Or are we just making an assumption based on how it seems targeted?
Consider "Blackenstein." Today, we are likely to mistake this movie as part of a Blacksploitation canon, but in its day it barely had a theatrical release, and was watched by virtually no one of any race.
Just sayin'...