Frireproof: The Movie

I expected the acting to be amateurish. I expected the message to be heavy-handed. I expected that it would be Splenda-sweet.

Perhaps because my expectations were so low (this is common for me, as you might have noticed, and is something that I do intentionally) I did not expect to enjoy the movie. But I did. And I didn't not expect to get much out of it. But I did.

Fireproof: The Movie


You know I'm leading a weekly marriage enrichment class at our church, right? And this is a Christian marriage-enrichment movie. The fit seemed too obvious to skip, and I figured that even if we totally hated the movie it would spark interesting discussion.

So on Saturday night 35 of us gathered at church - in the fireplace room with gas fire burning, naturally! - and ate pizza and salad and veggies and cupcakes. Then the little ones went up to the nursery with a sitter and the grown ups sat down in front of bowls of candy to watch the movie. The next morning we got together at Sunday school to discuss it.

I think we were all surprised that we liked it, that we found the message valuable and helpful. We thought the acting was a bit silly, the story a bit silly, and the message about as subtle as, well . . . That spoof video up there? The silly one? It's not a spoof. It's actually on the DVD as a recap of the film.

But there was a great discussion about the difference between seeing marriage as a contract (I give this, I expect that) and as a covenant (I give this because it's the right thing to do, and don't get so caught up in worrying about what I deserve, what I'm going to get out of it). There were solid reminders about how to treat the ones we love - things should know already but sometimes forget.

I am a mainline Protestant, and am not a particularly evangelical Christian, unlike the creators of the movie. (Have you been following Kirk Cameron since Growing Pains?) I expected to be uncomfortable with the religious message. (For example, I believe in evolution and believe that faith is integral to Christianity. I am not a Christian because someone "scientifically proved" God to me.) But even the faith stuff felt appropriate to the tone of the movie and the message didn't bother me.

In short, I had a good time on Saturday night! And I liked the movie! Maybe next weekend I'll got to a rave or something, just to balance things out. Because I'm footloose, baby!