The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, September 24

PG-13 Running Time: 126 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Anyone familiar with the Bakkers’ story will be curious about the film, as will those who watched the 2000 documentary of the same name.

  • Jessica Chastain gives a tremendous performance, absorbing into the role of Tammy Faye Bakker seamlessly.

  • Presents Tammy Faye’s story in a biopic/highlight reel of significant moments.

NO

  • Presents Tammy Faye’s story in a biopic/highlight reel of significant moments, and glosses over other significant events which are, you know, really important in telling the Tammy Faye story.

  • At times, Tammy Faye is presented in a far more favorable light than she probably deserves.

  • Everything addressed here is on the surface and even if you are not familiar with the Bakkers’ story, you simply know you are not getting the entire story.


OUR REVIEW

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3). 

As we first meet young Tammy Faye LaValley, she is smitten with a potent curiosity of “church.” The symbolism, the sermonizing, the speaking-in-tongues, the music, the powerful emotions generated on Sunday mornings in her hometown of International Falls, Minnesota. In Michael Showalter’s new adaptation of a memorable 2000 documentary of the same name, The Eyes of Tammy Faye takes us through the life of one of the more fascinating pop culture figures of the 1980s through the early 2000s. 

We would all eventually come to know her as Tammy Faye Bakker, the doting televangelist wife to Jim Bakker, whose PTL Club and prosperity ministry would find its way onto television in 1974. Soon thereafter, it would blossom into a multi-million dollar profit machine with television syndication and a devout, faith-based legion of supporters who helped make the Bakkers exceptionally wealthy.

The two first meet in a Minneapolis bible college where Tammy Faye (Jessica Chastain) falls for Jim (Andrew Garfield). He is chasing away demons from a tragic accident and answering His calling to become a preacher. During a class sermon, with Tammy Faye barely containing her enthusiasm, Jim’s vision of ministry runs at odds with his professor. Jim sees the wealth potential at play, Tammy Faye sees a man she can marry.

Showalter gets an impressive performance from Chastain, who disappears into the enigmatic role. Chastain, who also served as a co-producer of the film, is increasingly buried behind massive makeup and a Betty Boop-style voice she adopts over time. Her performance is striking, indicative of not only Chastain’s immense talents as a performer, but also her emotionally charged commitment to lionizing a deeply problematic individual.

Abe Sylvia’s screenplay doesn’t help much, adopting the highlight-reel/biopic approach to Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker’s lives. As a result, everything remains a rather surface-level, perfunctory examination of two individuals who bilked their followers out of tens of millions of dollars, smiling and singing and asking for more every moment they could.

Garfield’s performance of Jim Bakker is lived-in and appropriately creepy, though it stands as a testament to the larger issues at play with The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Since Sylvia and Showalter never explore anything outside what we see unfolding before us, we have no sense of why or how the Bakkers were able to gain such a stronghold for so many years.

So are religious followers simply gullible? Did the Bakkers prey upon innocent people? Were the Bakkers (both Tammy Faye and Jim) opportunists who built a brand on naïve giving to fund lavish lifestyles and blamed everyone but themselves for their failings?

Of course they were. And so when Chastain gives us moments of humanizing Tammy Faye - we appreciate the sentiment, but the emotions feel hollow and unearned. Jim Bakker is no one worth celebrating, full stop. Tammy Faye at least tried to be good to people, but in The Eyes of Tammy Faye she is literally and figuratively embraced a bit too easily for the film to have true strength and credibility. 

As she battles misogyny within the ranks of Jim’s colleagues, like from a vile Jerry Falwell, Sr. (Vincent D’Onofrio), and a slithery Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds), Tammy Faye becomes someone relatively easy to praise. Once you start considering all that she benefitted from and everything she was complicit in, the movie drops awkwardly and somewhat broken at her feet. 

CAST & CREW

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, Mark Wystrach, Sam Jaeger, Louis Cancelmi, Gabriel Olds, Frederic Lehne, Chandler Head, Jay Huguley.

Director: Michael Showalter
Written by: Abe Sylvia
Adapted from the documentary film, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”, directed by Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbero
Release Date: September 17, 2021
Searchlight/Walt Disney Studios