I Still Believe
Andrew and Jon Erwin are back with a new Christian Indie project to follow up their very successful biopic “I Can Only Imagine”. This time the subject is Contemporary Christian artist, Jeremy Camp (Riverdale’s K.J. Apa), and his first wife, Melissa (Britt Robertson), whom he tragically lost to cancer at a very young age. Technically, the film is well executed and the lead actors performances are engaging. Both Apa and Robertson have terrific chemistry as a young couple falling in love which drives this heavy vehicle when the story itself starts to crash under it own weight.
Aside from a love triangle between Camp, Melissa and a mutual friend that awkwardly works itself out, the looming cancer diagnosis is the only conflict in the story. Although it strikes fairly early in the film, it becomes immediately clear what the outcome will be and the second half of the film is the slow resolve of that inevitable end. And although we see believable and laudable performances of all the suffering this young couple experiences, there really is no where for the story to go after this revelation. With the absence of conflict, the film simply meanders about in this sad state until it ends.
On a side note, Jeremy’s music career seems to be taking off, but we aren’t really privy to that part of his life other than to see a few brief performances that don’t seem to move the story forward in any way. We don’t learn much about Jeremy as a person other than he is suffering because of his wife’s pain. We don’t get to learn much about Melissa other than the fact that she was a remarkably brave and strong woman of faith. As likable as these two are, we are only allowed to see into their minds from a polite and respectable distance. Therefore, without in-depth characters to embrace and explore, we are left with nothing more than the message of the film, “Sometimes God allows us to suffer to serve a higher purpose.”
The main problem with message based movies where the “message” is the main thing, is once we receive the message we aren’t left with much else to do. So we’re just left hanging around like distant relatives who barely know the couple at a wedding. And that’s what happens in this film. As an audience, we’re no longer doing anything but watching Melissa conclude her life. Although it is well acted and touching words are spoken at times that brought tears to my eyes, I spent a good deal of the second half of the film trying to keep my mind occupied with something to do other than simply watch Jeremy and Melissa suffer.
So, as a sweet, romantic story about a tragic event that happened to a brave young couple, there are some fine performances and some beautifully tender moments in this film. As far as taut, compelling storytelling, it struggles to maintain engaging conflict and leaves the viewer struggling to figure out why we’re still here when the story played out forty-five minutes ago. There simply was not enough story to fill the two hour length of the movie.
Written by David Alford
My Score: 75 out of 100
PARENTS: YES
TEENS: YES (Several kisses shared)
CHILDREN: Caution (Death is a prominent issue in the film)
TOTS: NO (Nothing here for them.)
