Review of Heaven Is for Real (2014) by Mdgrl — 30 Apr 2014

I am generally not a fan of seeing movies in the theater, but I caught "Heaven is for Real" by accident after other plans were changed. Additionally, I am not a religious person, so I was also a bit concerned that this movie would be a bit too "preachy" for my taste. However, I decided to take a chance on this one (we did have others to choose from) and am, for the most part, glad I did. My expectations were definitely surpassed.

I think Greg Kinnear is a decent actor and did a solid job in this, but it is unfortunate that whenever I see him in a "serious" movie, I can't help but think of a certain silly cable TV show he hosted back in the day. I was completely unimpressed with Kelly Reilly, the actress who played the wife. The story is set in Nebraska, and it is blatantly obvious that Ms. Reilly is not an American actress. She really did try to have an American accent, but failed miserably. Lo & behold, she is British. I wouldn't have a problem with this if she actually succeeded with her American accent! For me, she was the weak link in the movie. However, the main story really revolved around the father & son, so she had more of a supporting role, thank goodness! The other supporting players were fine, but their roles (church-goers/church leaders) weren't entirely pivotal to the movie, in my opinion. I must say, I think the best acting actually came from the child actor who played the son. For a small child, he was actually fantastic!

I personally did not find this movie to be heavy on the religion, which was quite a relief. In fact, I felt the story was very touching. The root of this movie is really about the love between a father & his son; the son has a phenomenal experience, the father struggles to believe him and subsequently questions his own beliefs because of it.