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Where The Wager does have something of substance to offer is its portrayal of the destructive personal cost of our contemporary media culture. Though the paparazzi is a bit caricatured in the film (the lead paparazzi villain, played by Doug Jones, is especially overdone), the way that they are obsessed with celebrity exploitation and directed personal attacks does ring true (e.g., Britney Spears). Steele's PR disintegration is expedited and, in fact, mostly constructed by the celebrity media hounds that crowd the gates with mics and cameras, hoping to catch him in a weak or exposed moment. In the way that they feed upon and foster the self-destruction of others, the insidious paparazzi are in this film a suitable metaphor for the way the Devil works in our everyday lives.

The film might have better succeeded with a more limited focus on the personal costs of voracious media and celeb-obsessed culture. But as it is, The Wager is an over-extended hodgepodge of tired clichés and stylistic miscues. At one point in the film, Pinchot's character screams at Steele, "I'm not gonna allow your narrow-minded religious agenda to ruin my film!"

And I wonder to what extent writer/director Judson Pearce Morgan might resonate with that sentiment. The Wager is a film that might otherwise have been interesting, but because its top priority is sermonizing and reductive "safe" storytelling, it fails to make any significant impact.

Talk About It

1. How is the Sermon on the Mount demonstrated in the film? Does Michael Steele succeed in his quest to find out how he might live it out in the 21st century?
2. Beyond the subject matter or plot, how is this film "Christian" in the way that it is told?
3. What do you think the overall message of the film is or was meant to be? Is it effectively conveyed?

The Family Corner

The Wager does not have an MPAA rating, but is safe for the whole family. It presents moral values in a positive light and has nothing objectionable in content. Some young children might not get the pedophilia suggestion or the hint at possible infidelity, but they can still appreciate the costly side effects of sin and temptation.

Photos © Copyright Outreach Cinema/PureFlix Entertainment

© Brett McCracken subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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