"LETTERS TO GOD" (2010) (Tanner Maguire, Jeffrey S.S. Johnson) (PG)
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QUICK TAKE:
Drama: A troubled postal worker gets a new outlook on life when he's assigned a walking route that puts him into contact with an 8-year-old boy with brain cancer who's been sending letters to God about his condition.
PLOT:
Things have been rough lately for the Doherty family. Not long after the sudden and unexpected passing of her husband, Maddy (ROBYN LIVELY) must now contend with the fact that her 8-year-old son, Tyler (TANNER MAGUIRE), has a rare form of brain cancer. With her mom, Olivia (MAREE CHEATHAM), now present to help out at home, Maddy is going to return to work, but Tyler's teenage brother, Ben (MICHAEL BOLTEN), is having issues with all of the bad things that have happened to his family of recent.
Also facing a hard time, albeit of a different sort, is Brady McDaniels (JEFFREY S.S. JOHNSON). He's a postal worker whose wife left him and took their young son following Brady's DUI arrest, yet the troubled man continues to drink. He also has a sour work ethic, meaning he isn't happy when he's assigned to take over the foot delivery route for another mailman who's going on an extended leave.
Brady's new post not only puts him in contact with the cantankerous Cornelius Perryfield (RALPH WAITE) who expects his mail on time every day, but also Tyler who's been sending letters addressed to God. Brady doesn't know what to do with them, but his boss says he should figure it out himself, while the local pastor tells Brady that God choose him to handle those letters. Accordingly, Brady starts to get to know and like the boy and his best friend, Sam (BAILEE MADISON), Cornelius' spunky granddaughter.
She's quite protective of Tyler, and thus doesn't take kindly to other students, such as Alex (C.J. AMARI), who make fun of Tyler when he returns to school following a break in his cancer treatment. With everyone wondering why God is making Tyler go through all of this, the boy learns that he's God's warrior, chosen to make sure everyone sees the light, with his letter writing campaign soon getting others to follow suit.
OUR TAKE: 4 out of 10
I have no idea whether or how much email has affected this cute activity, but every year when Christmas begins to approach, kids start writing wish list letters to Santa. All of which makes one wonder how much mail is sent to other fictional holiday and non-holiday characters such as the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. And then there's the question of how such mail is handled by the postal service and where it ultimately goes.
Some reportedly ends up in the small town of Santa Claus, Indiana, and I imagine some letters make their way to towns near the North Pole. But what if a kid, or an adult for that matter, were to send a letter to God? After all, "up there" is sort of a nebulous delivery address. In the faith-based movie "Letters to God," however, the matter of the physical destination takes a back seat to the religious one in this well-intentioned but only moderately successful and increasingly heavy-handed drama that's based on a true story.
Considering the title and plot (about a boy with cancer writing letters to the Almighty and thus helping a troubled man change his ways after seeing the light), it probably shouldn't surprise anyone that religion is going to play a big part in the film. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that or the film's themes. It's the way that they're delivered that cries out for more nuance and subtlety.
While they got a bad rap in the early days for poor filmmaking and doing nothing but preaching to the choir, faith-based films have come a long way in toning down the message and allowing that to flow from the storyline and characters rather than browbeat everyone via a jackhammer approach. This film is certainly one of the more polished from a production value standpoint and other than a handful of amateurish acting moments here and there, the performances range from decent to quite good.
Yet, for those looking for something beyond a cinematic sermon, the film's preachiness and repeated religious elements (via the dialogue, camera shots, heavenly score and related song lyrics) end up being spread so thickly that the story eventually bogs down in the second half until it's proceeding at little more than a crawl.
As penned by Patrick Doughtie and Sandra Thrift, the plot is essentially a "disease of the week" story that one oft sees on cable TV but occasionally makes it to the big screen, usually with big name stars attached. Here, beyond Ralph Waite (the dad way back when on "The Waltons"), TV and film veteran Maree Cheatham (as the caring grandmother) and young Bailee Madison (who made quite the impression in last year's "Brothers") in supporting roles, we have Tanner Maguire doing a decent job as the protagonist. Robyn Lively is even better as the distraught mom and Jeffrey S.S. Johnson looks, sounds and even acts like a Greg Kinnear character (the latter having starred in "Dear God" -- another film about letters to God -- presumably just a coincidence).
Director David Nixon and co-director Doughtie get decent work from them, and there are some heartfelt moments, naturally, from the storyline. But there's nothing here that screams (or whispers for that matter) "I need to be seen on the big screen!" and all of the heavily applied religious elements eventually overwhelm and suffocate the rote drama.
All of which is too bad since this latest offering sadly continues the trend backwards in making faith-based films approachable and appealing to all audiences, not just those that are already built-in (after "Facing the Giants" came close to going mainstream, "Fireproof" reverted back into overt preachiness, with this one doing the same). While religion is obviously an integral part of this particular story, a little (okay, a lot of) finesse and tact would have greatly benefitted the film.
After all, like the boy's ultimate quest in the story -- to get others to find God -- this film's goal is the same, but the heavy-handed approach means few outside the choir will end up seeing it. Better in the first half, than in the second where it really gets bogged down, "Letters to God" has the right address, but the penmanship needs some work. The film rates as a 4 out of 10.
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