And every ounce of it has the exact same message, which could be simply stated as “Yeah, but God. What amazes me is how on the nose every moment of moralistic posturing is. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Colin Trevorrow made it. It’s a financial drama, a family drama, a race car movie, an athletic redemption tale, a missing child thriller, and at one point, it’s even the blandest war movie you’ve ever seen. What follows is a mash up of soooo many genres. But our friend Cody has taken an interest in Amber, and a cautious, sexless romance begins.Īlso, there’s a man in a wheelchair who might have information about Darren’s death that could help put Amber at peace, but her stubborn, newly unreligious ways find her struggling to accept the hand that God has dealt her. She has forsaken the church and is facing the foreclosure of her home. Since his coach is a very religious man, Cody is also being tasked with teaching children at the church how to race go karts.Įverything goes to shit when Darren is killed in Afghanistan, leaving Amber a financially destitute, faithless widow who is constantly at odds with her mother-in-law on how to raise Bree. Simultaneously we meet Cody Jackson, a NASCAR driver whose recent accident has him busted down to a smaller circuit while he learns how to take turns more slowly. She lives with her young daughter Bree, and it’s their shared faith which gives them patience in awaiting the return of Darren Hill, their patriarch, from a tour in Afghanistan. You simply won’t believe the story, and I can’t possible tell it to you without sounding like a rambling idiot, but since idiocy is the name of the game, I am going to try anyway.Īmber Hill is the leader of her church choir. I can dig that, even if it’s not for me.īut please, please be aware that God Bless the Broken Road, if you didn’t know already, is a powerfully stupid movie, crafted with all the panache of a workplace training video. The faith-infused morality on display will reassure their beliefs, and harmlessly so. For them, God Bless the Broken Road will undoubtedly be a success. I also know that, for what it’s worth, these niche audiences do indeed show up in droves to support these films. Now before I start ripping this supremely dumb movie to shreds, let it be known that I am fully aware of who this movie is for, and I truly believe that these people deserve to have entertainment made in their flavor of choice. So when the opportunity to review God Bless The Broken Road, a film from the director of the God’s Not Dead, uh, franchise, based loosely on a song by Rascal Flatts, I jumped at the chance to check it out. However, all of this is stuff that I only “knew” based on assumptions, and I figured it was time to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to dismissing these movies as lame jokes. Add to that the fact that their message, no matter how valid, is so heavily flavored with “God’s plan” that it’s hard to take any of it as anything but religious propaganda. These films are easy to mock, given their hilariously twee responses to sometimes apocalyptic concerns. Gods Not Dead, Left Behind, God’s Not Dead 2, Left Behind 2, etc, etc, etc. Rated PG for thematic elements and some combat action.For years, I have been a staunch critic of faith-based film releases. Walker, Robin Givens, Jordin Sparks, LaDainian Tomlinson, Makenzie Moss, Kim Delaney, Gary Grubbs. At the center, she holds together this hodgepodge of random story elements that otherwise don't make much sense together at all.Ĭast: Lindsay Pulsipher, Andrew W. What "God Bless the Broken Road" does have going for it is a better-than-expected performance by Pulsipher, who plays the winsome but broken woman with a deep sense of sensitivity. It is unclear what anything in the movie has to do with Rascal Flatts or the song, except that Amber sings it at the end in her triumphant return to church, after her many come-to-Jesus moments: losing her home, her daughter running away on a go-kart and going to live with her judgmental, multi-level-marketing-shilling mother-in-law, finding out the story of her husband's death from his Army pal, a climatic NASCAR race wherein her new boyfriend drives a commemorative car decked out in pink camouflage and eagles. "God Bless the Broken Road" is a very strange Frankenstein's monster of a film, the story trying to combine too many elements while being reverse-engineered into incorporating the title of a popular country song.
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