AMB Reviews

Fireproof: 7/10 Stars

Release Date: September 26, 2008

Content Advisory: Rated PG for thematic material and some peril. Firefighters put out a fire and one bravely saves a child from a burning building. A man watches porn online, but we never see it. A married couple, at the brink of divorce, yell and scream at each other nearly every time they see each other.

Review:

Now, before I dive into this review, let me first tell you that I am not usually a fan of these type of Christian films. They are usually always low-budget, corny, the actors are in the film more for their faith than actual skill, and they usually try too hard to put in a Christian message than actually get a good plot running. What do I have to say about Fireproof? Well... I kept waiting for it to worsen.

In Short:

Fireproof tells the story of Caleb and Catherine Holt, a married couple who, after 25 years, are at each other's necks. They can't have one conversation without it turning into a screaming fight. At first, they both are leaning towards divorce, but after Caleb's dad sends him "The Love Dare" and converts him to Christianity, he tries desperately hard to save their marriage from total destruction. More on "The Love Dare" later. Overall, despite the mediocre acting, which I usually found hollow and stiff... Fireproof is a surprisingly touching film.

In Full:

Fireproof was made by a small church down in Georgia, who have already said in interviews that their films are not Oscar-worthy. That doesn't mean they're terrible either. It's the simple story of Catherine and Caleb Holt... Catherine being a doctor, Caleb being a firefighter. They each are at each other's throats and are basically at a near-divorce. It doesn't help that Caleb watches trash online and Catherine flirts with another male doctor at her work. However, when Caleb's dad sends him "The Love Dare" in the mail and converts him to Christianity, Caleb starts to work hard to save his marriage. Now, "The Love Dare" is a book that tries to help save your marriage. Forty days. And for each day, there is a new action written in the book that you must do for your wife (refrain from arguing, buy her a gift, make her dinner, clean the house, get rid of addictions, etc.) Will "The Love Dare" save their marriage? You will just have to find out for yourself.

Now, although I found the plot quite intriguing... it's quite hard to fully enjoy it with bad acting. Now, I'm not saying that all of the acting is bad. In fact, I found Erin Bethea as Catherine Holt quite good. She was able to argue and fight with her husband and still remain realistic. Kirk Cameron on the other hand, though he's had more acting experience that Bethea... was not as impressive. It seems like all he knew how to do was either scream or seriously talk to the firefighters. He never really seemed to have a good emotional range, and when he was off screaming at his wife, I couldn't help but laugh, as it seems like he has a tendency to overdo his acting quite a bit. The rest of the supporting cast was decent, with Kirk Cameron really being the only one to stick out to me as lower than average acting.

The visuals in this film, though few... were the typical low-budget type. The one scene in which there was a fire, looked fake and unreal. The other scene, in which the firefighters moved a car off of a train track was a bit more well done than the fire scene. Overall, I watched the film not expecting great visuals, and in the end, I was right. It's just your typical, low-budget visuals. But hey... what can I say? A small church down in Georgia made this film... I give them props for that... just don't expect anything to blow your mind away too much.

Now, let's get something straight... unlike "House," where the Christian messages were very subtle... this is quite the opposite. It's plain and clear that a church filmed this movie, as Christianity is brought up and dealt with many times throughout, always in a positive light. Now I, being a Christian myself, was glad to see this sort of promotion. Unfortunately, several times throughout, the Christian message felt just a little bit too forced. In other words... they were trying too hard to get in a message about accepting God, rather than simply working on building up a good storyline. There are many "huh?" or "please! That's unrealistic" type moments, as you wonder whether they were really trying to get a good story going, or if they just wanted to get Christianity into the picture. It's hard to say.

What is my opinion of "Fireproof?" It's probably a movie better suited for married couples... honestly, many teens won't take much interest in a film revolving around a married couple trying to rekindle their romance. Teenagers would much rather spend their time elsewhere, then here. Does that make it a bad movie? Of course not. In fact, this is actually a huge step up from many previous Christian films in the past. Yes, the acting verged on corny and overdone many times and this film does have the tendency to become a little bit too preachy at times... but it's enjoyable and not ridiculous enough to hold your attention throughout and teach you a handful of important lessons.