The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio, Mark Wystrach, Sam Jaeger, Louis Cancelmi, Gabriel Olds, Fredric Lehne, Chandler Head
Directed by: Michael Showalter
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) and Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield) rise to the top of the televangelist world, but their hidden sins threaten to unravel the empire they built.

Review:

Tim: It seems that pretty consistently every year, there's movies that feature great performances from the cast, but the film itself doesn't live up to the bar they set. One of those examples is The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a film that is never quite as compelling as it needed to be. Michael Showalter's film is good, absolutely. But it's deeply flawed and this prevents the film from even being in the conversation of the best films of the year. It's a movie with a lot you can appreciate, but ultimately, you can't shake the feeling of disappointment that it could have been much, much better.

First off, Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker are horrible people. This is pretty much confirmed by anyone who's followed the news of their rise, fall, and unrelenting hypocrisy. I'm not saying they never did any good, but these are not good people, not people worthy of any kind of praise. The film takes the right approach- not outright vilification, but certainly not giving them too much credit, either. I thought Showalter's film did present a complex view of these people, although the facts don't lie. I appreciated that this movie showed these people for who they were, although I think it could have been even more explicit. The one downside to this story that the film ends up feeling too long, at 2 hours, 6 minutes. Tammy Faye and Jim might be flawed, immoral people, but they aren't quite as interesting as the movie seems to think they were. I admit the story started to feel tedious to me, towards the end. This is definitely a product of how the film was executed. It's a film I'm glad I saw, but struggled some in the viewing and certainly don't feel the need to ever see it again.

I do have to spend some time on praising the cast. Jessica Chastain is a great actress and she's in top form here as Tammy Faye. Besides the shocking physical transformation (you have to think this movie will get an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling) of Chastain, she gives a wonderful performance of this flawed, larger-than-life character. It's a wonderful portrayal of a woman who loses her way, with some seeds planted about whether she ever had it in the first place. Chastain does so much in this film to bring this character to life. While I thought the movie was flawed, I certainly would be glad for Chastain to be widely recognized for her performance here. She's easily the best part of the film. Andrew Garfield is really good, too. I like Garfield a lot, but I don't think his performance is quite as strong as Chastain's. He is really good as Jim Bakker, but he doesn't get as many opportunities to shine. Bakker is such a challenging character to bring to life and we end up spending too much time with him in this film. Garfield was certainly good in the role, though. His transformation isn't as stark as Chastain's, but it is there. Watching these two play off each other is wonderful- their interactions were definitely a highlight of the film.

Cherry Jones was a strong addition to the supporting cast. She has a small role, but makes a big impact. I loved Vincent D'Onofrio's performance as Jerry Falwell. D'Onofrio disappears into this character and it felt like a bit of a change of pace for him. He's such a unique and talented actor, it was fun seeing him play this role. Gabriel Olds felt a bit bland to me as Pat Robertson. It was fun seeing Fredric Lehne in his role, too. The rest of the supporting cast was fine.

There is a lot here to mine, especially since this is one of those stories where truth is stranger than fiction. I appreciate that the movie knocks down these evangelical hucksters. I appreciated seeing and learning more about how they rose to power and how they eventually fell from grace. Showalter's movie is definitely character driven. This is good, but it felt like often came at the expense of the story. There are parts of the Bakker's journey that are glossed over- it feels like we've skipped a bit too far forward in time. The movie is obsessed with them as people, but it needed to tell a better story of what happened, how their actions built and eventually caused their downfall. It felt too secondary to me and I think the story desperately needed to be a bit tighter.

Now, these are reasons why The Eyes of Tammy Faye aren't better. This is still a really good movie. Showalter directs a film that examines two complicated, interesting characters and tells their story in a way that's more entertaining than not. This is a good movie, a film worth seeing. I certainly expect it'll be nominated for some Academy Awards, although I don't believe it's strong enough to win very many.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Big Sick, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Molly's Game, The Social Network