Fireproof: Flame Baked Preaching To The Choir

Christian view based films are hard to review.  As I suspect they are hard to make.  Make an entertaining film that also has your message, but delivered in such a way that the converted are satisfied with, the unconverted give it a fair hearing and everyone going is entertained and hopefully edified.  Plus, Kirk Cameron has kind of become the poster boy for Christians in Hollywood and it is hard to evaluate his efforts fairly.  He is an outspoken Christian with a conservative bent, which automatically makes him a villain in the eyes of some, but like most idealogical conflicts, you aren't going to get the most even handed, fair evaluation of him and his views going to his critics.  Likewise, in the eyes of his fans, he can do no wrong.  So...you try to evaluate the work.

Fireproof stars Kirk Cameron as Caleb, a firefighter captain who is devoted to his profession and his men.  He has a wife, Catherine, who works in a hospital and who also helps care for her elderly mother.  The two have lots of strains and disparate schedules.  Plus, they don't know how to communicate with each other, leading to misunderstandings and acrimony.  Eventually, after one nasty exchange, Catherine wants a divorce.  This catches Caleb cold.  He still loves his wife, but does not know how to express that to her, much less how to win her back.  Caleb's father, John, offers the "Love Dare" 40 day devotionally based program to try to help him salvage his marriage.  So, in the midst of handling things in his job and fending off another suitor to his wife, he launches into this attempt to mend his marriage and win back his wife's heart.

Fireproof wears it's message on it's sleeve.  First, in the hustle and bustle of life, we sometimes forget about what really matters, the ties that bind.  Further, it suggests that when life does chase us into a deep dark well, a heavenly hand from above is there to help pull us back into the light.  That we often can't do it all by ourselves.

Looking around the world, I don't see how such a message is so out of place.

I enjoyed Fireproof, but just know what you are getting into.  It is a film with a most definite stance.