The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

February 4, 2022 7:34 AM

An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

Based on the documentary of the same name by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye, Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker, and Cherry Jones as Rachel Grover (Tammy Faye's mother).

posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints (10 comments total)

Jessica Chastain is one of those actors for whom I'll see any film they're in without knowing anything about it.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:35 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Previously on MeFi.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:43 AM on February 4, 2022

(Warning about the "Previously" link - some mean comments abound in there.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:13 AM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I remember seeing this years ago, before Tammy Faye passed (rented from Hollywood Video), and coming away impressed. She was one of the few evangelical Christians who seemed willing, late in life at least, to walk the walk.

I still remember her, desperately ill, appearing on camera from her home in full make up, on Larry King, the day before she died. That was such a strange moment.

Her former husband Jim Bakker is a terrible person.
posted by JHarris at 2:10 AM on February 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm going to watch this tomorrow in fact -- last week i was going to but the trailer alone made me so distracted by her facial prosthetics* i decided to rewatch the docu instead (which was remarkably even-handed on the husband).

*Not as bad as Kidman's prosthetics for Lucille Ball
posted by cendawanita at 4:31 AM on February 5, 2022

I wanted to like this but it never really dug that deep. It just felt like the Wikipedia version of this story. I'm glad it wasn't making fun of Tammy Faye and Jessica Chastain did well enough, but she never felt real (and I think the prosthetics/etc. on her and Andrew Garfield are incredibly distracting). I feel like it was played almost too straight. I didn't really want a lot of camp or things to be played for laughs, but I was kind of surprised at just how dull this movie made this entire story.

I did like Vincent D'Onofrio's Jerry Falwell Sr., who he basically played like the Kingpin. He was basically saying "I've already played one super villain. I got this." It's not a parody of a performance, though, but I feel like he was the only one who understood what this movie could've been.
posted by edencosmic at 1:16 PM on February 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Chastain says the prosthetics injured her skin.
posted by sammyo at 2:25 PM on February 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

The documentary was so much fun, what a strange and open-hearted person she was. As someone who knew about the Bakkers mostly through the caricatures that ran in Bloom County for a while, I enjoyed the chance, as an adult, to reconsider her as a person and not a symbol.

The idea of remaking the documentary as a movie leaves me cold, so I don't think I will watch this version of it.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:19 AM on February 8, 2022 [3 favorites]

Wait, there's a new thing? My comment above referred to the documentary.
posted by JHarris at 3:26 PM on February 10, 2022

JHarris yeah, this post is about a new release starting Jessica Chastain as Tammy Fae.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 3:36 PM on February 10, 2022