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As the summer movie season winds down, box office totals are dropping, as is the quality of films. New releases The Replacements, Autumn in New York, and Bless the Child all received tepid notices, although the spiritual content of the supernatural thriller Bless the Child made for a lively discussion about the growing respect for God in the unfortunately schlocky genre.

Hollow Man took the box office crown for the second week in a row, despite piles of bad reviews. Several new Christian reviews stacked the pile higher, including a particularly forceful one from J. Robert Parks of The Phantom Tollbooth, who says it's "so overwhelmed by stupidity and depravity as to be practically unwatchable. … Instead of exploring extremely pertinent issues like the transformation of the body and its effect on human identity … it's merely an excuse to indulge [an] obsession with human dismemberment. … The lowlight comes when [the invisible man] sucks on a woman's breast while she's asleep. It makes for an interesting special effect, and it feels like you're watching a rape." Holly McClure of Crosswalk.com agrees that "this is a dark, adult horror film that even some adults may not be comfortable with. … The script, plot and annoying behavior of Kevin Bacon ruin what could have been an interesting story." Movieguide's pan of the film, though, notes a somewhat atoning "warning about the dangers of playing God and having too much power."

Nearly every Christian critic gives a mild thumbs up to Space Cowboys, yet the areas singled out for praise are often completely opposite. For instance, World magazine was bored by the long setup as four old-timers brave the rigors of NASA training before leaving earth, and says "once the movie shoots into space, it starts getting interesting." The Phantom Tollbooth's J. Robert Parks, though, says "once the movie gets into space, it loses a considerable part of its charm. … In the midst of disaster and special effects, the camaraderie that existed on firmer soil is lost." Similarly, Parks says he "didn't believe [James] Garner as a Baptist minister for a second," while ChristianWeek enjoyed the efforts of the film to "show Christians in a positive light. … Believers on the big screen may still be cartoonish, but now they're our cartoons." ChristianWeek complained that the film was "not that exciting," though—differing from Movieguide's assessment that "Space Cowboys is another entertaining, fairly exciting movie from Clint Eastwood."

The Replacements is a football comedy inspired by the 1987 NFL strike, which finds a group of misfit second-rate players learning to work together as a team, á la Major League. The U.S. Catholic Conference calls it a "surprisingly winsome comedy [that] remains appealing despite a predictable story line, time-worn cliches and stereotypical characters." Preview's Mary Draughon agreed that it "will tickle the funny bone of many wannabe players and fans," but warned that the movie should have been rated R (instead of PG-13) because of a group of "exotic dancers, recruited as replacement cheerleaders, performing suggestive dances in revealing costumes." Holly McClure of Crosswalk.com also objected to the sideline antics. "The movie ends up being Hoosiers with Hooters and it ruined it for me. … How unfortunate that the final message in this movie is a group of loser has-been men can overcome insurmountable odds … but the most that the women in this movie achieve is selling their bodies to men." Other critics had different ideas of the movie's final message. World magazine upholds the idea "that greatness can still be earned even when recognition and glory are absent." Michael Elliott of Crosswalk.com draws a more dubious conclusion that "the contrast between [the replacement quarterback], who cares about his teammates, and the character of the striking star quarterback, who cares only about his bank balance, is … a good example of what truly drives success." The actual world of sports says otherwise, though; championship games are rarely played between the two most selfless teams in the league. Movieguide asserts that "the deepest of [its] messages is the idea that 'Glory lasts forever.'" Again, the sports world says otherwise; how many replacement players from 13 years ago can you name?

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August (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44