It’s ok for a movie to be preachy if you’re main character’s an actual preacher, right?
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“Heaven Is For Real” stars Greg Kinnear as the father of a son who starts describing heaven after almost dying when he was 4. The true story is based on the best selling book of the same name and follows young Colton’s journey and the impact it has on those around him, especially his father. So it’s been quite a month for “Faith Based Films” no? So where does this one rank? Well at the risk of sounding like the Goldilocks of reviewing Christian movies, if God’s Not Dead was too hot, and Noah was to cold, this one might be juuuuuuust right.
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First, some major props are due to Greg Kinnear. He is fabulous in this. It’s a change of pace to see such quality actors in this kind of fare and it pays off wonderfully here. His portrayal of Todd Burpo is nuanced and deep. Allowing us to really explore the doubt and fear that this man must have had through so much of this time. And he’s not the only one bringing it here. Thomas Hayden Church is also great as his friend, and Connor Corum, the very young kid who played Colton, and I should also mention bears a striking resemblance to the real life Colton, managed to cover some pretty deep ground as well. But I really enjoyed the little things here as well. The way the church reacted to the story, the way humor was effectively used, even the way the pastor and his wife flirted, Wait a second, Christian’s are sexual beings too? How dare you. Anyhow, All of it made for a very accessible telling of this incredible story. Plus, the fact that the film very decidedly focused on his internal struggle of faith made the message feel like it was calling more for personal introspection rather than cultural inspection.
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Yet, there are still some of the typical flaws present here as well. Despite the overall tone some of the sections do get a little heavy handed. And the movie also often seems to drag, though I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that there are very few surprises here. This story is pretty well known, and the trailer gives away just about everything, so part of that interstitial boredom may just be that we kind of already know what’s going to happen. But the worst thing for me? The music. They often say that the sign of a great score is that you never even notice it. Well… I noticed this one… a lot. It was as if each overbearing note was pleading with us to feel a certain way. Not only that, but there were a couple of really powerful moments that I felt might have been better served by having the score completely drop out and instead it was still there attempting to move us, but instead distracting us.
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Overall, “Heaven is for Real” is a well done and thoughtful adaptation of an incredible story with a wonderful performance by Greg Kinnear. Even with some typical faith based issues, and music that is more annoying than emotional I give it a B-
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