The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

“Oh, Tammy Faye. You follow blindly. In the end, all you are is blind.” – Rachel Grover

Number of Times Seen – 1 (3 Nov 2021)

Brief Synopsis – Biography of Tammy Faye Bakker and how she and her husband created one of the largest religious televangelist show on TV in the 70’s and 80’s until scandal brought them down.

My Take on it – As a kid of the 80’s, I remember all of the press that these people got (both good and bad) at the time and was quite curious to see what this movie was all about.

Jessica Chastain is quite beautiful and she is able to transform herself in this role to Tammy Faye who is not even close to being in the same league.

Andrew Garfield is also great as Jim Bakker.

The film does a wonderful job explaining how they started off and how things eventually succeeded based on their power, influence and charisma.

The problem here is that the story feels a bit too bland in the way that they tell it and that has more to do with the reality of it all.

The plot is good, but not as engrossing as one might hope for.

What they do manage to show tho is the fact that there are some people who no matter what they say or do, they will be followed by true believers in all that they do.

I wouldn’t be surprised is Chastain’s transformative role here will garner her another Oscar nod, but I highly doubt that this performance is good enough to actually win.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The film had been a passion project of Chastain’s for a number of years before it ended up being made. She had seen the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000) around 2012 and felt drawn to tell Tammy’s story. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)