There are two things which make it easy to review a film at Dove: either the film easily misses being approved or it is approved easily. Then there is the film like this one: it is a near miss. There is a lot to like about this film. It shows a father who sincerely loves his three daughters and attempts to gain custody of them from their lying, abusive mother who also happens to live with a drug dealer. The father works hard and is protective of his daughters. A stuck-up but very good female lawyer is won over by him, and her heart softens as she sees his devotion to his family. She defends him as their relationship deepens. There is a great sermon given by the pastor of the church in this movie, and he tells his excited congregation that when they are the most tired and weary of life’s battles, that they are the closest to the miracle they need. There is a great spiritual song in the film too.
So why can’t Dove approve this film? It also includes several very explicit sexual remarks. We would not feel comfortable at all approving it for twelve and above because of these remarks. The sexuality is strong and a female character asks a single man to spend the night with her. It also comes to the brink of not being approved due to the language and violence and drugs. A level three on our chart prevents a film from being approved and the language and violence, as well as the drugs, all hit the two mark, and the violence is borderline three. However, it shows people who care about the abuse of the children and do something about it. This one had some good things going for it but it is a near miss. Too bad. The explicit language sinks an otherwise well-made film.