I'd like to be charitable to the actors involved. I think they all did the best they could do with the material. Technically, I don't think the directing or editing were terrible. The film is what it is, it's the story that reeks of, well, ham-fisted feel-good nonsense.
Christians seem to like to pat themselves and the power of their faith on the back by watching movies with extremely unlikely plot devices. I think other negative ratings were guilt-by-association with Cloud Ten Productions, which I understand picked up this film after it originally failed to find a distributor. It's certainly nowhere near as bad or over-the-top as the craptacular Apocalypse or Left Behind series.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Jewish (that's with a capital J, for some of you of lesser intelligence and taste in film) character, for once, found redemption and happiness within either the Jewish community or Judaism itself, instead of being "shown the light" by a preachy, and again, ham-fisted message? Granted, we were spared Evangelical spiritual masturbation fodder by having to endure a baptism or conversion of Reynold's character, which probably would have taken place had Cloud Ten Productions underwritten the project originally.
It's a step in the right direction for Cloud Ten Productions, leaps and bounds better than Kirk Cameron rapture porn, but still a very trite stinker. We all know deep down, Reynolds always had acting chops, but this isn't the vehicle just because it's palatable to a wholesome, Christian audience.
Christians seem to like to pat themselves and the power of their faith on the back by watching movies with extremely unlikely plot devices. I think other negative ratings were guilt-by-association with Cloud Ten Productions, which I understand picked up this film after it originally failed to find a distributor. It's certainly nowhere near as bad or over-the-top as the craptacular Apocalypse or Left Behind series.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Jewish (that's with a capital J, for some of you of lesser intelligence and taste in film) character, for once, found redemption and happiness within either the Jewish community or Judaism itself, instead of being "shown the light" by a preachy, and again, ham-fisted message? Granted, we were spared Evangelical spiritual masturbation fodder by having to endure a baptism or conversion of Reynold's character, which probably would have taken place had Cloud Ten Productions underwritten the project originally.
It's a step in the right direction for Cloud Ten Productions, leaps and bounds better than Kirk Cameron rapture porn, but still a very trite stinker. We all know deep down, Reynolds always had acting chops, but this isn't the vehicle just because it's palatable to a wholesome, Christian audience.