Fireproof
Review by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 9/26/2008
 1 of 3
Two years ago, there was a big controversy when Facing the Giants, an ultra-low-budget movie produced by a church in the Bible Belt, was rated PG, allegedly for its spiritual content. Pundits and politicians railed against the MPAA and its ratings board for its perceived bias against religious themes, and moviegoers rallied to the film's defense at the box office, making it one of the most successful Christian movies of all time. But as the debate over the movie's rating subsided, another controversy emerged. Some Christians praised the film for its positive, family-friendly values, while others condemned it as bad art, a bad story badly told that would only encourage the worst artistic instincts of the evangelicals who saw it.
Kirk Cameron as Caleb Holt
Personally, I came down somewhere in the middle of that debate. Yes, the script, by director Alex Kendrick and his brother Stephen—both of whom are pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia—had a tendency to pile on the happy endings, to make rededicating one's life to Jesus look like the magic trick that would solve all of life's problems. But I have acted in church drama groups, and in at least one video sponsored by my denomination at that time, and I have a sense of how hard it can be to get even mediocre work out of a mostly-volunteer, non-professional cast and crew. Seen in that context, the Kendricks' film was remarkably impressive, and instead of slamming it, I wanted to encourage their artistic growth.
Thankfully, their newest film, Fireproof, is indeed a step up, though it presents new challenges that the Kendricks' earlier films never quite had to deal with. The story this time concerns a firefighter named Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) whose wife of seven years, Catherine (Erin Bethea), wants a divorce. Caleb is ready to give up on the marriage altogether, but his father, John (Harris Malcom), gives him a book called The Love Dare and challenges him to follow its steps before throwing in the towel. Since Fireproof has been endorsed by a plethora of marriage ministries, you can pretty much guess how things will turn out. But the Kendricks earn their resolution this time; instead of dropping miracles and messages from God on their characters, they keep the story focused on the Holts and driven by the choices that the Holts make. Put simply, it no longer feels like the filmmakers are "cheating."
Things get ugly between Caleb and Catherine (Erin Bethea)
Which is not to say that the script is free of problems. The first half-hour or so feels uneven, like the filmmakers were trying to find the right tone, or weren't quite sure how to set up the story. The first time we see Catherine, a hospital administrator, she's talking to some nurses and she begins every other sentence with "Hey" as if to itemize the various plot points she's laying out. When Catherine has a brief exchange with a doctor who seems a little too interested in what she has to say, the nurses cast each other knowing looks. And just in case we missed the point, as soon as Catherine is out of earshot, one of the nurses tells the others, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say the doctor has a thing for Cat." Subtle, this scene isn't.
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