The Eyes of Tammy Faye

The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Starring Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio
Directed by Michael Showalter

Back in the day (and maybe still now, but not as prevalent), the televangelist movement really hit America hard. Televangelists are Evangelical evangelists who preached through the airwaves to reach millions of people in their homes and would preach prosperity and love as long as people phoned in pledges to keep them on the air. Some famous (or infamous) televangelists include Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Joel Osteen, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jack Van Impe, Billy Graham, and the married duo Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. While some televangelists truly believed what they were doing was for the glory of the Lord and the betterment of the viewers, many others saw it as a cash grab scheme to defraud their devout viewers into giving up their hard earned money for prosperity and God's love and acceptance. More often than not, these televangelists suffered a severe fall from grace and blacklisting from the Christian community they helped dupe. Thus is the story of the Bakkers, and thus is the point of "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," a possibly revisionist history through the eyes of a woman who seemingly really wanted to do the right thing, but was duped by her husband and the men of power around her.

Ever since she was a child, Tammy Faye (Chandler Head) was devoutly religious. She wanted to be a part of the church that her mother Rachel (Cherry Jones) played piano for, but she wouldn't allow Tammy Faye in the church because she was born out of a previous relationship and she feared the entire family would be kicked out of the church. Young Tammy Faye - after praying to God - decided to defy her mother's wishes and entered the church, where she was radically transformed and felt like she heard the voice of God telling her to be a preacher.

Now an adult, Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) studied at North Central Bible College where she met aspiring preacher Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), and the two got married. They decided to become evangelists, traveling the country to preach about God's love while Tammy sang and used puppets to entertain the children, but after seeing Pat Robertson on television, decided to turn their evangelistic ventures to television, becoming televangelists and founding the PTL Club. Things were looking up for the couple as they reached millions of people and brought in even more millions of dollars, most of which was used to fund their lavish lifestyle, although Tammy Faye never thought of it like that - to her, she was reaching people with the love of God through music, and Jim was touching their hearts with his messages.

Soon, however, their empire begins to crumble, as influential preacher Jerry Falwell (Vincent D'Onofrio) wants to push a more Republican political agenda on the Bakkers, while Tammy Faye holds to loving everyone no matter who they are. The marriage itself slowly begins to implode as well with Jim focusing more and more on the ministry and money and ignoring Tammy Faye, while also embezzling funds, having affairs, and hiding a possibly homosexual love affair. All the while, Tammy Faye becomes more emboldened to spread her message of love and acceptance, while battling her own inner demons as she feels like she looses touch with God in favor of celebrity and wealth.

The intriguing life of Tammy Faye Bakker is something that clearly demanded a biopic treatment, especially after the documentary of the same name came out in 2000, but it needed to be something more unique than the traditional biopic style. Think "I, Tonya," which was more a black comedy biopic than a by-the-books biopic, while still giving service to Tonya Harding. Tammy Faye Bakker would've thrived in such a style, but instead director Michael Showalter went the generic route, where all the stops are pre-determined and systematic: start off as a young child, meet the future spouse, find their economic calling, rise to fame, cracks in the facade, slow fall from grace, engaging in drugs and/or alcohol, have a "come to Jesus" moment, and slowly rise back up. If you were carrying a scorecard that listed all the tropes a biopic has, by the end of the film each box would be checked in perfect timing.

Still, despite the generality of the style, the film is heightened by the passionate performance by Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Bakker, a woman that she's wanted to play as since she saw the documentary in 2012. This is her performance piece, a film that's solely centered on her and much to its own detriment as everything around her serves more as background fodder than actual story. We don't really know Jim Bakker's real motives toward anything, and despite the great Andrew Garfield playing the role, he comes off as very one-dimensional. Cherry Jones plays Tammy Faye's mother with less emotion than Allison Janney's Oscar-winning role as Tonya Harding's mother in "I, Tonya," and again comes off as a bland cardboard character who is your typical stringent mother figure that Tammy Faye always wanted the approval of.

Then again, the film is called "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," so everything that happens is shown through her intensely expressive eyes. It's here that Chastain truly shines, and if not for the film itself being rather bland and simplistic, could've earned an Oscar nomination for her performance (which still isn't out of the realm of possibility). She plays Tammy Faye on a thin tightrope, as she balances her innocence within the entire scheme her husband concocted (she was never charged with any crime, unlike her husband), the times in which she lived in where women weren't seen as being equal with men, and the emotional and spiritual abuse she suffered at the hands of Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell and other men of religious influence around her, while also holding strong to her beliefs that everyone is loved in the eyes of God, no matter the political agenda. To this end, Chastain proves why she's one of this generation's most talented actresses as she moves from one moment to the next with effortless ease.

You're totally engrossed in Tammy Faye's story from start to finish, and Chastain plays her as a wholly sympathetic character. She truly believed what she did was for the betterment of those watching her, and while she still adored the limelight, she also wanted to bless others and make their lives better. You feel the pain and hurt through her eyes as she endures a loveless marriage and infidelity, and her eventual spiral to painkiller use. You also sense her strength as she bucks the religious men around her and focuses on loving those with AIDS, the LGBT community, and those on the fringes of "normal" American society, causes the real Tammy Faye championed for throughout her lifetime. She was a woman who heard from God, and when she didn't, tried to find a way to get back to hear from Him again. Jessica Chastain owned the role and you can sense the deep admiration she has for the character and the woman behind the loads of makeup.

Speaking of makeup, if there's any category the Academy will recognize the film for (apart from Chastain's transcendent performance) is the makeup and costume designs. Tammy Faye was always known for her eccentric personality and her makeup to match, and here they spare no expense to make Chastain look exactly like Tammy Faye. Yet you also feel the sadness for the woman after the fall and she hears people making fun of her for her outlandish appearance, and even endures taunts by her husband as well. The makeup and costume designs are top notch here and add to the emotional depth of the woman behind the fallen televangelist.

Serving more as a performance piece for the great Jessica Chastain, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" does a disservice to the unconventional former televangelist singer by giving her a traditional biopic story that highlights her life but does so at the expense of the anomalous personality that Tammy Faye exuded.

The Score: A-