We’re going to play a game, you and I. I’m going to tell you the rough plot of a film and you’re going to tell me who the protagonist is. You ready? Here goes: A high school basketball team loses the championship game. In the wake of their resolve that next year would be better, oh no! The small town’s Twitter Plant is moving (not closing, mind you, don’t want to alarm anyone with reality) which means half the population will move with it. The ensuing fall, an asthmatic kleptomaniac shows up to represent the entire cross country team by herself. And for no reason known to anybody but Mr. Foreshadow, we introduce a blind man in the hospital. Now … who’s our hero? Go on, guess. Is it the blind man? The klepto? A member of the basketball team? How about a family that has to move away because of available work?
The answer: The basketball coach. The basketball coach who didn’t lose his job, his wife, a family member, or anything of significance. He did suffer a 10% pay decrease because of decreased district funds. Ah, yes, no one quite knows Christian hardship quite like the basketball coach whose team will probably not be as good next season. Well, Alex Kendrick wrote and directed this sneer-jerker; he may as well star in it, too. Right?
In case you missed it … the vanilla answer to Tyler Perry came out with another Godsquad special which reflected almost nothing in terms of truth, reality, or entertainment, but they sure did pray a lot. I continue to be flabbergasted by how insecure Christians are. Two billion in the world … you run several nations including the United States -a country that put “separation of church and state” in its origin story- and yet, somehow, it isn’t enough; Christians still have to advertise like a kid with a lemonade stand shouting at cars zooming by. Well, movies are my thing, so this is where I fight back.
And I start, as usual, right here: everything on film is forgivable so long as it’s entertaining. The minute it stops being entertaining, however, you’re gonna see an itemized bill. In the history of film, there isn’t a single entertaining instance of prayer. Not one. I defy you to show me otherwise.
John Harrison (Alex Kendrick) is a teacher and basketball coach at Generic Christian High School. His world is ROCKED when he discovers his basketball team isn’t going to be quite as good as he hoped. FWIW, all it took was one peek at the scoreboard to discover this film wasn’t right. Overcomer opens with a high school basketball game that may or may not be important (oh, it was the sectional championship? Well, why didn’t you say so?) and the score is 84-83 with nine seconds left. A high school basketball game and both teams have scored in the 80s?! Do the 3-pointers count for 20 where you live? And the team with the ball and the lead crosses half court and –with no defensive attempt to foul- attacks the basket. Trust me, if you don’t know basketball this is a head slap moment. In addition to 20-point shots, do they have 8-second shot-clocks where you live? If there’s five seconds left in a basketball game and you have the ball and the lead, and the opponents do not foul you, that game is over. We are told John Harrison is a “good” basketball coach? By what standard? Those who have never seen a game of basketball before?
While John is having his problems coping with being white, happy, and employed, the camera cuts to the klepto: Hannah (Aryn Wright-Thompson) steals some headphones and runs away. The drawer of tokens suggests the kleptomania but the fact that she’s the only runner on the cross country team suggests she just wanted to get some practice in. We will never know which; the film is far more fascinated with its patriarchal bent than the issues of a parentless, asthmatic, and friendless, minority teen. And by the time we introduce the blind guy in the hospital bed (Cameron Arnett), it is just a matter of time before Overcomer blows its load and starts preaching at us.
As I film fan, I cannot help noting exactly how many real issues the film deftly avoided so that it could get to the prayin’: plant closing so there’s wage insecurity, homelessness, increased crime … kleptomania could well lead to police action, illness examination, and issues about treatment of minorities … asthma, blindness, diabetes could all bring up health care and hospital stay issues … and, of course, the film is set in a high school so there are dozens of teen topics to introduce. By golly, who needs all that noise? Let’s talk about how Coach Harrison is going to handle his disappointing season to come. This film is like High School Musical without the music, or fun, or high school.
I will give Alex Kendrick this much – five or six dreadful films into his career, he has learned what his oft pious and thought-challenged audience wants to see: let’s tell a joke about how coach thinks running is torture. In fact, let’s make several. It’s not stand-up material. It’s not even water cooler material, but your audience will “love” it. I can attest to that.
Overcomer, like any Kendrick brothers film, is about blind faith –in this case, literally blind faith- and the allegiance to Jesus Christ, the only characteristic (apparently) that matters to a person. So here’s the thing – I love that this picture shows great humility of character; said humility is severely lacking in the United States, and I believe it is our greatest national flaw as of this moment. That said, the humility so apparent on the screen is missing in the screenplay – conversations that end in prayer or something akin to “how’s your Christian faith?” carry the myopic and prideful message “MY GOD RULES.” And while the characters themselves are humble, the direction suggests that the petty problems of a middle-aged white man are bigger than the real issues he’s surrounded by. I get the feeling that the Kendricks could have lived in the 1860s and responded to slavery and civil war with, “my property values are going down. That’s a big issue.”
The other massive problem with Overcomer is venue. You want to talk about faith. Now you guys clearly know much more about faith than I ever will, and I won’t argue that point. This, however, is a movie. In movies, faith makes for characterization and motivation. Faith is a means and a wonderful coping mechanism, but not an end-game cure-all. Faith helps solve problems and alleviate stress, but it doesn’t alleviate problems. Film requires plot. And plot requires conflict and resolution. Faith is a shitty resolution. (Ex. Plot: “I thought my basketball team was going to be good, but instead they’re bad.” Resolution: “Have faith.”) It’s clumsy; it’s sloppy, and it shows a huge disrespect for your audience. Somebody who spends $20 a pop to be entertained on a Friday night doesn’t want to hear all conflict devolve into, “just have faith.” Well this somebody doesn’t, at least. And when it’s clear you haven’t researched your topics or bothered brainstorming on an active conclusion, you’ve wasted my time. And when you present plots of layoffs, kleptomania, and overcoming obstacles, but your focus remains on a white man who has none, you’ve insulted me as well.
♪My God is better than your god
My God is better I know-o-o-o
My God is better
Cuz I’m ‘Murican
My God is better than yours♫
Rated PG, 119 Minutes
Director: Alex Kendrick
Writer: Alex Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick
Genre: Christian borefest
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Christians who don’t get out much
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Anybody else
♪ Parody Inspired by “My Dog’s Bigger Than Your Dog”
