A good movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since I have weak spot for Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield, I was quite eager to check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had never heard of Tammy Faye Bakker and it was pretty neat to get to know this rather incredible woman. With her garish make-up and her deep religious feelings, I really didn’t expect her to be such a nice lady after all. Of course, this movie was told solely from her point of view and it was therefore only positive regarding her but you can’t argue that it was quite impressive and inspiring how this TV- evangelist stood out for gay people and AIDS victims. Furthermore, I’m not surprised that Jessica Chastain finally won her first Academy Award with this movie as she gave here easily one of the best performances. And, yet, even though the material was really interesting, the movie itself didn’t completely work though. I think the biggest issue was their refusal to spend too much time on Jim Bakker. Sure, Tammy Faye was obviously the main character here but they both had such a huge influence on each other’s lives (I guess that’s what happens when you are married for 30 years) and it was just weird and, above all, rather unsatisfying that we didn’t learn much about Jim Bakker after all. I guess he was some kind of narcissist but, once again, it was hard to tell since you spend so very little time with the guy after all. As a result, it’s never clear what Tammy Faye was going through at the time. Was she aware of what was going on? If not, it did make her look like a fool. If she was aware, then she was pretty much an accomplice. However, the makers never really made up their mind which way they should go. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in the subject matter.