By: Henry J. Fromage (Four Beers) –
I Still Believe (2020) Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for every song that Camp just comes up with on the spot. Songwriting’s easy, kids!
Take a Drink: for every visit to the hospital
Take a Drink: for every concert
Do a Shot: when you start to wonder how the backing band knows the song Camp wrote last night after his surprise call up to the stage
Movie Review
You’d think that I could dodge reviewing the least desirable of new releases due to the simple fact that theaters are closed. You’d be wrong.
Yes, I still have this one, coming, too.
I Still Believe is another one of those films you’ve been clamoring for about the stories behind your favorite Christian pop songs (yes, I’ve reviewed multiple of these now). The titular song is based on singer Jeremy Camp’s college romance with Melissa Lynn Henning, and their ensuing tragedy.
A Toast
There’s no denying that I Still Believe is heartfelt, earnest, and unafraid to tackle perhaps the stickiest of question of faith- why does God let bad things happen to good people? There are no easy answers to this question, and this film recognizes and acknowledges this just as Camp and Henning did in their own sorrows.
The film also benefits from committed and believable performances from its core cast, particularly KJ Apa and Britt Robertson as the leads, and is slickly shot and well-polished in that Nicholas Sparks flick kind of way. There’s also a few fun nods to the early 2000s time period, although they didn’t have the chutzpah to actually employ the real hairstyle of Camp at the time.
This would have been fearless filmmaking right here.
Beer Two
The beginnings of this film are real shaky despite the leads’ chemistry, largely because the screenwriter and director don’t leave any Nicholas Sparks-style doomed romance cliche rock unturned. I bet you thought the Sparks stranglehold on your mom and her friend Barbara’s Fandango accounts had been broken in recent years. Well, I regret to inform you, the Sparks Schmaltz thrives in the Faith-based films world.
I mean, just look at this still.
Beer Three
The music should be good in a film that is this song-driven, and while I’m not going to use “Christian music” as a pejorative like many do, but man, there’s a lot of soft rock pablum here that isn’t my scene. Clearly it is for many people out there, but if you’re like me (and I’d wager the majority of folks are closer to my end of the spectrum), the soundtrack here is largely a rough listen.
Beer Four
The actress playing the fan who was touched in the end (and who has another connection to Camp I won’t spoil, insofar as spoilers are possible in a film like this) sure shouldn’t have attempted that South African accent she did. Admittedly it’s a tough one to master, but right at the emotional crescendo of the film hearing somebody absolutely butcher an unrecognizable attempt at an accent sure pulls you out of things.
Verdict
I Still Believe is an earnest, heartfelt film about faith, love, and music that unfortunately features some pretty bad music.
