The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Watching the featurette on HBO Max for The Eyes of Tammy Faye I expected it would be one of the best films of the year so far. After the film ended I sat there with this weird and conflicted feeling between my expectations and the reality of it ultimately just being an "OK" movie. Jessica Chastain’s performance as Televangelist Tammy Faye blew me away. Her level of commitment and talent dominated in every scene. Cherry Jones, who plays Tammy’s mother, was one of the few supporting actors who didn't fade into the background. I felt her presence and strength throughout the entire film.

Andrew Garfield who plays Jim Bakker physically resembles him. But he was played too naively and delicately, like watching paint dry. There isn’t enough character development across the entire main cast.

The movie is experienced through Tammy Faye's point of view. This limited the ability to explore the varying viewpoints on a deeper level and actually make a statement on the Bakkers, religion and politics, and televangelists today. It would have made the film stronger to see Jim’s motivations and the duality between the “pastor” on TV and the scheming and sexual encounters behind closed doors. The film approached this in a safe commercial way.

Throughout, I became bored constantly fighting coming in and out of the film wondering how much time was left.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye walks through the motions of the 2000 documentary of the same name, giving no unique point of view or anything new to be obtained.

The documentary is average, but it tells you about Tammy, how her and Jim created several Christian TV networks to develop the satellite PTL network, the scandal and downfall, and Tammy’s personal redemption.

The film is a waste of millions of dollars and people’s time.