Do You Believe? (film)

Do You Believe?

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jonathan M. Gunn
Produced by
Written by
  • Chuck Konzelman
  • Cary Solomon
Starring
Music by Will Musser
Cinematography Brian Shanley
Edited by Vance Null
Production
companies
Distributed by Pure Flix Entertainment
Release dates
  • March 20, 2015 (2015-03-20) (North America)
Running time
 115 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2.3 million[2]
Box office $14.4 million[3]

Do You Believe? is a 2015 Christian ensemble drama film directed by Jonathan M. Gunn and stars an ensemble cast featuring Ted McGinley, Mira Sorvino, Andrea Logan White, Lee Majors, Alexa PenaVega, Sean Astin, Madison Pettis, Cybill Shepherd, and Brian Bosworth.[4] It was released on March 20, 2015.[5]

Plot

The film begins with an opening quote from James 2:17. A pastor (McGinley) is shaken by a street preacher regarding his faith, which causes a chain of events for twelve different people, moving towards one cataclysmic event. Some will survive while others will not, but many lives will be changed. An older couple (Shepherd and Majors) have lost their only child. The aforementioned pastor and his wife (Tracy Melchior) were unable to conceive a child. A mother (Sorvino) and young daughter (Makenzie Moss) find themselves homeless, a young nurse (Dominguez) and her husband (Matthews) are caught in a court case that may ruin their lives.[6] A young mother (Pettis) is about to give birth.[7] A war veteran (Soria) returns home with PTSD. A suicidal young woman (PenaVega) seeks to see her father and feel loved again. A street gang is caught up in the mix when one of the members (Shwayze) unexpectedly ends up in church while running and hiding from the police. The core message for all involved in the drama is a simple question – "Do You Believe?"

Cast

Release

Box office

Do You Believe? opened theatrically in 1,320 venues on March 20, 2015 and earned $3,591,282 in its first weekend, ranking number six in the domestic box office, behind The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Cinderella, Run All Night, The Gunman, and Kingsman: The Secret Service.[3]

Reception

Critical response

Do You Believe? received negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 17% rating, based on 18 reviews, leaving a rating average of 4.2/10.[8] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 22 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]

Film reviewer for The Dove Foundation, Edwin L. Carpenter starts his review with, "...the best faith-based film I have ever seen!"[10] Writing for the The Times-Picayune, Mike Scott describes the film as, "It is not mainstream entertainment; it is mainstream Sunday school – which is fine if this is what you want to see at the movie theater."[11] Scott Foundas, Chief Film Critic at Variety magazine, pans the film with "But when all its threads are finally pulled into place, Do You Believe? proves about as spiritually enlightening as a Kmart throw rug."[12] Huffington Post's Jackie Cooper gave the film 7/10.[6] Michael Foust, writing for The Christian Post nominates the film as the new best evangelistic film ever, he goes on to reason, "The majority of movie critics will likely give it poor reviews, partially because it is more overtly evangelistic than any successful faith-based theatrical movie in recent history. But I'm guessing those who see the film will like it."[13] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Peter Sobczynski reports, "Subtle as a sledgehammer to the toes and only slightly more entertaining, Do You Believe? will no doubt play well with viewers already predisposed towards liking it because it has been designed to reconfirm their already deeply-felt beliefs rather than doing anything that might cause them to think about or challenge those beliefs in any meaningful way."[14]

References

  1. ↑ "AMC Theatres: Do You Believe?". AMC Theatres. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/03/do_you_believe_debuts_to_bad_r.html
  3. 1 2 "Do You Believe? (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ McNary, Dave (28 October 2014). "AFM: Faith-Based 'Do You Believe?' Aims to Match 'God's Not Dead' Success". Variety. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015. “Do You Believe?” focuses on a dozen different lives that intersect on the streets of Chicago, starting with a local pastor (Ted McGinley) being moved by the visible faith of an old street-corner preacher, played by Delroy Lindo.
  5. ↑ Koonse, Emma (9 January 2015). "'God's Not Dead' Follow Up 'Do You Believe' Gets Release Date; Film Encourages Spiritual Action". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015. "Do You Believe," the follow-up to the hit film "God's Not Dead," will be released on March 20, Pure Flix announced on Friday.
  6. 1 2 "Do You Believe? Aims For Its Target Audience and Succeeds". Huffington Post. March 24, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  7. ↑ "'Do You Believe' actress Madison Pettis doesn't want to shed good-girl image". Fox News Latino. March 23, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Do You Believe?". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  9. ↑ "Do You Believe? Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ Carpenter, Edwin L. (20 March 2014). "Do You Believe?". The Dove Foundation. Retrieved 30 March 2015. The stories all seamlessly fit together by film’s end, and the bridge scene is dramatic and powerful. I was not bored once during the movie and was deeply moved on several occasions.
  11. ↑ "'Do You Believe?' movie reviews: What critics are saying about the evangelical drama". NOLA. March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  12. ↑ Foundas, Scott (20 March 2015). "Film Review: 'Do You Believe?'". Variety (magazine). Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Foust, Michael (19 March 2015). "Movie Review: 'Do You Believe?' Better Than 'God's Not Dead'; Not Made Just for Christian Moviegoers". The Christian Post. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Sobczynski, Peter (20 March 2015). "DO YOU BELIEVE?". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 30 March 2015.

External links

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