Heaven Is for Real – Film Review
Director: Randall Wallace
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly and Thomas Haden Church
Release Date: Jun 13
Based on the real life accounts from the book of the same name, Heaven is for Real tells the story of a small town minister’s son, Colton Burpo (Connor Corum), who has a near death experience. When he returns, he claims he visited heaven and divulges information about his family’s relatives that he couldn’t otherwise have known.
Unable to rationalise the situation, his father Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear) ponders his own faith as others within his community react to his son’s claims in their own way.
There is undeniably an element to this film that will put off a lot of people. I think it’s best just to throw that right out there. Something with an unambiguous title like Heaven Is For Real is bound to rub certain people the wrong way.
I, for one, don’t mind films of religious intent even if I don’t agree with what’s being said or implied, and I believe a film that seemingly makes such a bold statement can still have merit as a piece of entertainment within itself.
So essentially, the message or “agenda” of the film should be secondary to its value in engaging and entertaining the audience.
Two films that I believe to be good examples of this dynamic would be The Social Network and W. The two are very different films from Heaven Is For Real, but what they have in common is that they are based on true events and portray these events very much in a disputable way.
Both films interpret real events and people, the details of which are highly disputable, however they both at least work as self contained movies you can watch, separate to their ties to real life matters (although I have to say The Social Network outshines W. in terms of quality cinema).
A better example of this kind of film is Fire In The Sky, a movie based on the true events of a supposed alien abduction. This is something a movie going audience couldn’t possibly be expected to believe, but it’s something that can still make for entertaining viewing.
Fire In the Sky manages to concoct an almost definitely made up emotional arc that ties it together well.
It is naive however, to ignore the far more complex implications of the religious matters imposed by Heaven Is For Real which aren’t present in The Social Network, W. or Fire In The Sky. But the biggest problem with Heaven Is For Real isn’t to do with how it manages its subject matter but simply that it’s just not a good film.
It’s dull, uneventful and at times lazy. The film contains a lot of seemingly redundant scenes that kind of just show the main characters lives, without any progressive story beats or thematic content. Not every scene in a film should be packed with this kind of stuff but it should at the very least contain some.
There is a strange balance of elements in the film though. While the film is droll and almost structure-less, it is nicely filmed and manages to create a warm sense of atmosphere. A lot of its more successful elements are due to the performances by Greg Kinnear and Kelly Reilly, two quality actors who seem out of place in this film.
Kinnear particularly proves the extent of his on-screen charm by making the character of Todd Burpo sweet and likeable, despite the support of poor writing.
Overall the film feels like a somewhat cute TV movie with just a couple of touches that elevate it to something a bit bigger, but still not something that feels like it should be on the big screen.
In the case of its subject matter, it goes mostly unexplored. There are one or two scenes in which the character of Todd Burpo discusses his struggle with whether or not he believes his son’s accounts and how, despite him being a strongly religious person, he doesn’t know if he can accept something so literal.
This is an interesting dynamic and the kind of thing that the film should mostly concern itself with, but simply doesn’t. The film seemingly tries to keep a level of ambiguity in places but this is coupled with just frankly awful and cheap looking visions of heaven that accompany Colton’s descriptions of his experience. While it is debatable, it feels like it has the attitude that it wants you to believe its story.
On top of all this Heaven Is For Real is just a bad title. There’s something condescending and very American about its colloquial tone. In a sense, it does give you an idea of what you’re in for though.
So, ultimately, Heaven Is For Real is a film that doesn’t offer a grain of salt to go with its serving, but that takes a sidestep to the fact that it’s just not that well made a film. Although it has some good performances and is not without a sense of charm, it’s a rather empty and uninteresting film.
Score: 2/5
Written by Sèamus Hanly
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