Review of The Shack (2017) by Will P — 20 Mar 2017

After three weeks, The Shack's split between the critics' score and the audience score is now 65 percentage points (86-21 as of today). The audience score has been holding at 86% since weekend 2, but the critics' score has risen from 17 to 21%.

So does this mean that the critics are biased? I don't think so. Instead, I think what's really happening here is that they don't know how to categorize The Shack in terms of a film genre or purpose. They are used to looking for entertaining artistry, for information, or for social, economic, or political challenges in the films that Hollywood releases. That this film is essentially a giant spiritual/philosophical mirror, designed for self examination instead of entertainment, information, or activism simply isn't recognizable to them.

And guess what? That's OK. The Shack *is* an entirely different kind of film, with a different purpose in mind. It was never supposed to be primarily an artful narrative, an insightful documentary, or a searing indictment of some social, economic, or political wrong. Neither was it planned as a stereotypical "faith" film--made by "the home team" for "the home team" with a "see, we're OK" message to promote. Rather, the Shack is something very rare in cinema (not that that's a virtue in and of itself), and consequently is going to be sideways to what many people expect when they go to a theater. That there are many who react that way to it among the very broad field of film critics is no great surprise.

So who's this film for? Well, certainly for those who loved the book, but also for those who hear about it from friends (or online articles) who feel a little resonant tug from the themes of forgiveness and redemption--these are the people whose reactions result in the sky-high audience ratings. It's very much the case that this is a word-of-mouth-driven film, so the audience tends to self-select in favor of people who are actually looking for this kind of "something different." If you're not one of those people, it's fine if you don't like this little film--but perhaps do try to realize that these people do exist, they have good reasons for wanting to see The Shack, and they are loving what they find.

Nobody's wrong in the debate over The Shack's merits, necessarily--we're just different in our expectations of it.