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Whatever the critics think of Mandy Moore's performance in A Walk to Remember, the Christian heroine that she plays in the movie is making it a hit with American evangelical audiences. Surprising skeptics, Walk is a modest success, coming in fourth in last week's North American box office charts with $8.8 million earned for the week, $23.3 million overall. (Yes, that's modest, compared with Black Hawk Down's three-week total of $75.5 million, or The Fellowship of the Ring, which has gathered $267.1 million in North America alone since December 19.) For a project widely referred to as a "Christian movie," its popularity is impressive, and many religious press critics are expressing hopes that this will encourage production of more Christian-themed films on the big screen.

Last week, Film Forum excerpted reviews from critics who were either moved to tears or crying for it to go away. This week, I found out moviegoers have strong opinions of their own and that they are quite willing to send in e-mail on the subject. Most of the positive reviews came from teenagers.

Nicole S. testified, "I fell in love with the whole theme of the movie. I walked away saying, 'I want to be more like Jamie.' It's amazing how one girl's life can touch so many. People are looking at your life, and I want people to feel that discomfort that God puts in your heart to change. [This] was really a great movie."

What do boys think of this weepy, rather sentimental story? Dan writes, "Being a teenage boy, I am not always interested in attending movies [that have] lots of high emotion and I don't feel like any kind of real plot developed. I was amazingly shocked to find that … not only was the movie a good plot, but God was lifted up in it also. I feel on the level of faith and obedience, Jamie Sullivan portrayed many of the feelings I feel about God."

Grownups are finding a mix of virtues and faults in the film. Martha Mims writes, "I thought that it was not a great movie, but it had a great theme. I liked the religious elements and the biblical references and shots, but was not too pleased that Jamie was obviously bra-less in the tattoo scene."

Matthew French took his senior high youth group to the film and reports, "Teenage girls will love it. It was a little slow and drawn out, but as a man in his late 20s, this isn't the genre I would normally be interested in. I was happy to support such a project and I hope it does well enough to stir up interest in making more movies like this. Now we just need a quality Christian-themed movie for the teenage guys. That will be more challenging."

Jason Dickey responds to some of the critics' accusations that the film is formulaic. "I know of no teen movies where a terminally-ill class nerd finds inner resolve through faith and realizes that her short life moves the lives of those around her. That is hardly a 'cliched' storyline." He also disagrees with those who found the one African American high schooler to be stereotyped. "All of the 'in-crowd' in this film speaks using hip-hop argot. The fact that one of the 'in-crowd' in a southern community happens to be black is a progressive statement. The black teen is the only popular teen, aside from the hero, who turns out to be a decently-minded chap in the end. Southern Baptists will also be pleased to see the Baptist church portrayed as an inter-racial congregation whose worship style blends a somewhat subdued variety of white fundamentalism with African American music and decor. Apparently the moviemakers have taken all of the SBC's 'racial reconciliation' talk seriously. … Any film critic who gives teen crud like Booty Call or American Pie a thumbs up while panning A Walk to Remember is biased."

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February (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46