A fundamentalist approach to movie criticism

Today I asked a couple fundies whether they'd be interested in watching a movie with me. Since I hate having to figure out their standards I decided to list all the unseen ones I had on my hard drive and let them choose. I opened a Rotten Tomatoes browser tab for each film and passed the computer to them. They were curious about the site, and I explained that it collects critical reviews.

We then branched into a discussion of movie criticism proper. They expressed some outrage at critics having poorly rated one of their favorite films, Fireproof. They concluded that the critics' opinions were too divorced from reality and of little use, citing the fact that Fireproof had "changed peoples lives for the better". I directed them to the Daily Beast review I was familiar with and attempted to explain why a movie critic wouldn't see artistic value to Fireproof, but they were quite outraged by it all; I couldn't even get them to read the whole review.

To my mind this just goes to show that the review was quite right in concluding that:

in making evangelism—and acceptability to the most insular Christian audiences—a priority, Christianese films all but guarantee artistic failure. Art demands an honesty that the evangelical bubble would find intolerable. Committed to promoting an unambiguous message that God solves all problems, Fireproof never portrays Christians doing anything untoward, or even experiencing any sorrow. Caleb’s parents’ marital struggles pre-dated their Christianity. When Caleb’s best friend reveals that he divorced his first wife, he not only says it was before he found the Lord, but adds that after he did, he would have gotten back together with his ex had she not already remarried. In the perfect world of Fireproof, good Christians do not have bad marriages, any more than they drink, gamble or swear.

They of course differed and cited Fireproof's success, claiming it was going to be one of the "top 25 movies", and concluding that critics rated it poorly because it "bypassed Hollywood and didn't conform to [Hollywood's] standards".

I'm reminded of Stephen Colbert repeatedly claiming we now know global warming to be true because "Al Gore's movie made money," and hence "the free market has spoken".

By the same logic you could try to argue most Britney Spears albums are artistic masterpieces, Paris Hilton is a wondrous actress, etc.

In reality Fireproof is very likely an unimpressive film whose success is driven by evangelical fervor rather than any artistic, technical, or creative achievement. I say "very likely" instead of making a definitive assessment because I haven't actually seen it myself, and based on reviews am unlikely to do so. After all, isn't that the whole point of checking critical reviews before deciding to sit through a movie?

Now it's certainly true that Fireproof may have "changed peoples lives" the same way, say, a "powerful sermon" might. And that's fine. It's a preachy film rather than an arty or creative one. There is certainly a place for such things. But that place bears more resemblance to the DVD collection of your neighborhood's Bible Study group than that of your local film festival.