Christians in Cinema

Saturday evening I joined three other voters (my two sisters and my teenaged niece) at the ballot box. We cast our votes for Evan Almighty by going to see the 9:40 PM showing at our local theater. The 89 minute-film seemed longer because we had stayed up late the night before and had a full day of fun & frivolity. Our reviews were pretty mixed.

Melanie liked it. She thought it was funny, but was disappointed that there was no mention of Jesus. Mary Jo ( my niece) laughed through it (and ate most of the popcorn!). Grace said it was OK for her. I was disappointed in the production value. For a movie with a $170 million budget, the interior of the Capitol building just looked like a nice building with a couple of fancy offices and hallways. When the Congress was supposedly in session, the room didn’t hold up to what we know about the meeting room. Anyone who watches C-Span, or even has access to the internet knows it wasn’t the actual meeting hall. I guess the money was spent on the animals and truckloads of lumber showing up at Evan’s home.

The reviews have been extremely mixed for this movie. Scott Holleran, writing for Box Office Mojo, a Hollywood site that gives statistics for movie ticket sales, tags Evan Almighty as “the worst picture of the year…Christian fundamentalist comedy”, proving yet again that Hollywood does not understand (or care to understand) Christians, let alone the nuances associated with the terms “fundamentalist,” “evangelistic,” or “charismatic”. [It’s a like me trying to explain the Higgs boson particle. I considered studying physics in college, but changed to music] A Christian fundamentalist comedy would never have God tell someone that all it takes to change the world is random acts of kindness.

In fact, the American Family Association, which does represent fundamentalist American Christians, blasted Evan Almighty and refused to give advertising space on its site for the movie. You might say that their very objections are to fundamental truths that are misrepresented in the film; Scripture is misinterpreted, God is seen as someone who doles out grace in response to obedience, and good deeds lead to redemption.

In a small bit of irony, both Box Office Mojo and American Family Association reviewers object to the way God uses humiliation and badgering to encourage obedience in his people.

I thin some of the best scenes had to do with prayer. The family prays together, Evan gets on his knees and prays early in the film, and God has a conversation with Joan (Evan’s wife) about prayer. His question “When you pray for something (patience, courage, changing the world), does God give it to you right away, or does he bring circumstances your way to help that come about?” is one we should all consider.

The critics don’t agree, my family and I don’t all agree, and I’m sure that will be the pattern for everyone seeing this film. That’s OK; in the light of eternity, this is one movie out of thousands. It is interesting to read and compare the various critiques, both from Hollywood and Christian sources. Jeffrey Overstreet has gathered quite a few on his blog; read a few here.