POSITIVES…
Interesting drama about the fascinating life and character of Tammy Faye Bakker.
While the plot progress of the lead character is a captivating one, this movie is primarily a vehicle to show how incredible Jessica Chastain is as Tammy Faye. Absolutely brilliant performance, easily getting our sympathy to her character, and actually has a wonderful singing voice when she sings the songs featured in this film.
Of course Chastain gets to also showcase a dynamic chemistry with Andrew Garfield who is fantastic as the rather despicable Jim Bakker.
A scene stealer in her own right is Cherry Jones, who is absolutely excellent as Tammy’s Mom Rachel Grover.
Has a solid supporting cast, which includes Vincent D'Onofrio, Mark Wystrach, Fredric Lehne, and of course the Susie Moppet Doll.
As a biopic, it handles the transitions between story arcs rather well, by its effective use of montage sequences to bridge those gaps.
There are some good scenes to watch for, like the unusual meet cute of Jim and Tammy, the Steve Pieters interview sequence, the pitch meeting for Heritage USA, that Battle Hymn of the Republic scene, to the moments she talks to God.
Kudos to the movie for how it handled sexual innuendos and sexually suggestive material, without actually showing sex. Considering these are Christian characters and all.
Has a cleverly wicked sense of humor in terms of directing and editing particular sequences.
It’s got some sweet quotable lines like “God does not want us to be poor,” “Jesus ain’t political,” “Can we talk about Satan later,” or “You follow blindly, in the end all you are is blind.”
One of the best elements about this film is how it handles the topic of religion, showing the contrasting perspectives to the quotable passages in the Bible.
If there is one lesson to learn from this movie, it is that you should be wary of Religious leaders who get huge monetary gains by invoking the word of God.
NEGATIVES…
It’s still a biopic with most of the narrative problems that come with that film genre.
Due to the focus of this story, it tends to neglect expanding on certain supporting characters (like her kids!).
There are plot elements that could have also used some more elaborating.
Opens with a particular character reveal, that doesn’t really get a pay off to explain that reveal.
Not entirely sure I’m satisfied with how the movie concluded.
Although it is based on real life, it’s hard to deny the predictably familiar plot progression.
Some might get triggered by the movie’s criticism of certain religious figures.
Others will complain that this movie looks too favorably towards Tammy Faye.
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