Review: Fireproof

2008/PG/Drama

(I've done my absolute best not to include any spoilers in the following review. )

This the third installment from the church in Georgia that made Flywheel and Facing the Giants. Kirk Cameron (from Growing Pains fame) plays Caleb Holt. He's a firefighter who never leaves his partner behind in a fire, but can't seem to keep his partner happy at home. Facing divorce, he takes forty days and participates in "The Love Dare," a process by which he increasingly shows his soon-to-be ex-wife that he loves her, even though she returns zero affection back to him. In the meantime, she's getting a little friendly with a co-worker and believes that her soon-to-be ex-husband's attempts are simply a plan to butter her up so he can keep the house.

I'm going to give my overall feeling first, then elaborate on it:

Fireproof was adequate.

There was nothing amazing about the movie, it had it's bright spots and it had it's stab me in the eye with an ice pick moments. But overall, it was adequate.

If I hadn't known better, I would have assumed this was a written and directed by first film. The script was clearly never viewed by a fresh set of eyes and the ones that wrote it probably only revised it once. It definitely could have used a rewrite, especially by someone other than the writer, someone who wasn't in love with certain lines or scenes. The movie opens with a "Because-we-can" crane shot yet includes a fairly convincing fire scene. As with all films slapped with the "Christian" label, this one rents a billboard with it's salvation scene, yet handles the fact that Caleb is addicted to pornography with tact and subtlety. So much so that it lead one reviewer to believe that it was being played as a small marital problem.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In this situation, it's simply the difference of how the characters handle their anger, hurt, and frustration. In the bigger picture, I have the opposite complaint with Christian films as I have with Hollywood. While Hollywood takes their message and buries it in story, Christian movies kill their story by slamming a salvation sermon in the middle of it. The pornography was dealt with expertly: It was never mentioned "by name" but everyone knew what was going on. Pay attention next time you are watching a great movie: You come into conversations mid-stream and are forced to play catch-up. You have to deduce what is being discussed. That is how this was portrayed and it was well done. The Caleb Conversion scene, however, was another story. All that was needed was for Caleb to say "How am I supposed to show love to somebody over and over and over who constantly rejects me?"; see the cross then cut to the "I'm in" scene between he and his friend, Michael. We understand the point, we assume the decision, we see the reaction. I will say, though, that this was one of the tamest and most well-acted conversions that I'd seen in recent memory. No tears, no "sinners prayer," no crying out to God.

Yes, most of the acting left something to be desired (Kirk Cameron and Ken Bevel being the notable exceptions) and yes, their "twists" were predictable (with one brief moment of surprise) and yes, the movie came off as preachy. But it did have its good parts. The juxtaposition of what Christ did for us and how Caleb's wife was treating him was inventive and powerful. And I was very glad to hear a movie finally say "Don't follow your heart. Lead it." Too much of Hollywood (and our culture) is the "if it feels right" "follow your heart" crap that leads to shirked responsibilities, broken marriages, and poor decisions.

You can read other's opinions on Fireproof here and here.

While not on par with the great movies of our time, Fireproof warrants a viewing. It has a good message and, for the most part, is palatable. If you don't expect much, you'll be pleased.

(The book "Love Dare" was written after the movie was finished. Normally I'd hold that against the film but Kirk Cameron didn't get a fee for his performance, he simply accepted a donation to his camp Camp Firefly. These two events cancel each other out.)

2 out of 5 stars.

One one final note. I'm pleased to report that Fireproof earned twice as much as Religulous. Take that Mr. Bill "I'm-smarter-than-God" Maher