I don't usually do movie reviews; I feel there are a lot of folks out there who do better than I. But after seeing "Facing the Giants", I felt this was one movie review I had to write.

The first thing that struck me was that I've seen this movie before. About a billion times. It's the kind of schmaltz that evangelical organizations have put out for 30 years, with slightly better production values (although, unfortunately, the acting quality hasn't improved).

While it may be tempting to set aside emotion and say this is the kind of entertainment that evangelical Christians need, the kind that unapologetically upholds and exhorts their faith, I would have to say I disagree. I believe this is the kind of entertainment that sends a message that is dangerous to Christianity, a message Christians would do well to avoid.

For those who haven't seen the movie, here's the plot: loser, infertile coach with a rundown house, a broken down car, and his back against the wall turns to God in a private prayer session. Immediately everything's rosy. The house situation improves, he gets a brand new car given him, wife gets pregnant, and his team makes the playoffs for the first time in his career. When they lose their first playoff game, we're led to believe that the dream is over, but no. God apparently put a couple of ineligible players on the other team, causing them to forfeit (nice how all that works, huh?), and the team has second life and goes on to win the state championship on the leg of a second string kicker that has never kicked in that range, while said kickers paraplegic father stands to cheer him on.

What this movie is is a slap in the face to every Christian couple who has been unable to have a baby, every Christian coach who's been unable to win the big game, every Christian driving a beatup car and every Christian athlete unable to crack the starting lineup. It says that the reason for failure is a lack of faith, that if you were truly faithful, you wouldn't be dealing with adversity.

I won't go into the seriously flawed theology that went into the scriptwriting of this film. I will say, however, that it shows how seriously out of touch Christian leaders are with the people in their congregations, the people who desperately need answers that aren't provided by glurge like this.

There is, I must admit, a serious need for good, quality, life affirming films. But if you like football and want life affirming, watch "Rudy". Watch "Remember the Titans". Don't watch this tripe. It's overhyped garbage.