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Omar Sharif as Prince Memucan, speaking with the king

Character introduction is also awkward and subtle, making it hard to discern who's essential to the story and who's not. Yes, we need to establish the loving bond between Mordecai and Hadassah. No, we don't need a potential romance between her and his underwritten family servant Jesse (Jonah Lotan), who later becomes a palace eunuch and ends up becoming the go-between for the two cousins.

The tricky thing about Esther's story is finding a balance between oversimplifying and overcomplicating. The first half of this movie is essentially The Bachelor, as Esther is gradually schooled and groomed to earn the king's favor. She first does so when she's requested one evening to read the daily news to Xerxes, but then decides to recite the story of Jacob and Rachel instead—so much for keeping her heritage a low profile, eh?

Once she's earned his heart and become queen, the challenge of the second half is to build tension, not only between Esther's attempts to conceal her identity from an unsuspecting Haman, but also to sow seeds of doubt between her and Xerxes. If they're too much in love, then there's no suspense of whether he'll spare her life in the scene's pivotal scene. This undermines the film's romantic themes somewhat, but nevertheless creates an intriguing relationship—two people devoted to each other, yet unable to be completely open with their lives.

James Callis is sufficiently creepy as Haman

All building to the well-known finales set in the throne room and the private banquet, both of which feel overly dramatized. After Esther's long processional to the king's throne, Xerxes extends his scepter at the last second … to deflect the sword of one of his palace guards. Later, when Esther reveals her identity, Scripture depicts Haman as fearful, begging her for his life. Here, he sneeringly mocks Esther and threatens her life, before Xerxes finally intervenes like George McFly from Back to the Future. Dramatic license is all well and good, but not when it contradicts key plot points. Much of the film's drama also hinges on the secret of Esther's necklace, a nice device except it gets lost, then found … then lost and found again. It all rings a little false with the melodrama.

I don't want to sound too down on the filmmakers, though. This is difficult source material to adapt, which might explain why previous attempts to film it (most notably 1960 and 1999) have never quite gotten it right either. With One Night, they've made a commendable attempt at telling the story of a young woman who takes a leap of faith for her God and her people, and giving it sweeping production values to match.

But a good film still needs to communicate its story effectively, even one as familiar as this one is to Christians and Jews. If those who were raised on the story of Esther have as much trouble keeping up with this as I suspect they will, imagine how muddled One Night with the King will seem to anyone without the personal interest or acumen to invest in it. A tighter script could have made this a classic Bible epic.

1. Esther was given the choice to do nothing and remain safe or risk everything to save her people. What would you have done? What can we learn from her example today in terms of sharing the gospel and serving others? How have things changed since then
2. Not too unlike the story of Joseph, Esther rose from a peasant girl to royalty and played a pivotal role in saving her people. What does that say about God's plans for each of our lives

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