Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Michael Showalter
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Vincent D'Onofrio,
Cherry Jones, Gabriel Olds
Late on in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, the husband of the title character tells her he's tired of listening
to her whiny Betty Boop voice. By that point you'll likely be nodding in
agreement. Jessica Chastain's bizarrely cartoonish performance as
ultimately disgraced Televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker is initially
amusing but becomes so torturous to endure that the movie will probably
be added to the VOD selection for the inmates at Guantanamo Bay.
Director Michael Showalter and writer Abe Sylvia stick
rigidly to the rise and fall biopic format, introducing us to Tammy as a
child desperate to join her mother's church. Her mom (Cherry Jones, who oddly never ages over the course of the narrative's half-century)
forbids her from entering the church, lest it remind her fellow
parishioners that the girl is the product of a marriage that ended in
divorce. Ignoring her mother's wishes, the young Tammy storms into the
church and begins speaking in tongues while having spasms on the
floor.
The question of what inspired young Tammy to speak in tongues is, like
so many details in this film, left frustratingly unanswered. Did she
genuinely believe she was touched by some higher power? Or was she
simply faking it, and if so, where did she learn of such
behaviour?
In college, Tammy meets her future husband and business partner Jim
Bakker (Andrew Garfield), a charismatic bible basher who preaches
a new gospel of prosperity. The two get married and hit the road,
spreading the gospel through a puppet show. This attracts the attention
of Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds), who gives them a show on his
Christian Broadcasting Network. Soon, Tammy and Pat become the network's
main attraction, and find themselves in conflict with more traditionally
conservative Christians like Jerry Falwell (Vincent D'Onofrio).
The Eyes of Tammy Faye can't quite make up its mind how
it wants its eponymous subject to be viewed. With their golly gee
Forrest Gump performances and make-up that gives them the appearance of
some nightmarish hybrid of human and muppet, it's impossible to view
Tammy and Jim in a serious manner. Yet this is a very serious story, one
that involves millions of gullible Americans being scammed out of their
savings as Tammy and Jim help invent the notion that souls can be saved
by donating to a telethon. Tammy is portrayed as a bimbo, but her
ditziness seems to open doors that might be closed for someone with a
more conservative personality. The movie never lets us in on whether
Tammy is genuinely this innocent, which seems highly unlikely, or
whether it's all a well-rehearsed and calculated act.
Later, when Tammy becomes a sort of American Princess Di in the 1980s
and controversially appeals for tolerance of homosexuals, the movie
leans towards taking her side. This is hard to buy into, as her
tolerance and understanding doesn't seem to extend to her closeted
husband.
In the hands of 1970s Robert Altman or even today's Paul Thomas
Anderson, The Eyes of Tammy Faye might have been a great
American movie. At its heart is that great central contradiction of both
the US and Protestantism, the idea that austerity is next to Godliness,
but that the prosperous have earned their place in heaven along with
their earthly material rewards. We see this play out in the movie's one
good scene, in which Jim argues the case for splashing out on material
items with his teacher, who takes the traditional view of
austerity.
For a movie about religion, The Eyes of Tammy Faye is
strangely uninterested in delving into spiritualism. Did Tammy and Jim
actually believe what they preached? If so, did capitalism erode their
beliefs as they began to focus on accumulating wealth? Were they simply
scam artists all along? Who knows? At least the Conjuring movies, which
revolve around another real life Christian con artist couple, take a
side, even if it is one that sticks in this sceptic's craw.
