Do You Believe? (film)

Do You Believe? is a 2015 American Christian drama film directed by Jon Gunn and stars an ensemble cast featuring Ted McGinley, Mira Sorvino, Andrea Logan White, Lee Majors, Alexa PenaVega, Sean Astin, Madison Pettis, Cybill Shepherd, and Brian Bosworth.[4] The film is distributed by Pure Flix, who released it on March 20, 2015.[5]

Do You Believe?
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon Gunn
Written by
  • Chuck Konzelman
  • Cary Solomon
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBrian Shanley
Edited byVance Null
Music byWill Musser
Production
companies
Distributed byPure Flix Entertainment
Release date
  • March 20, 2015 (2015-03-20) (North America)
Running time
115 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Budget$2.3 million[2]
Box office$14.4 million[3]

Plot

When a pastor, Matthew, is shaken to the core by the visible belief of a street-corner preacher, he and others come together to start to question what their religious beliefs really mean.[6][7]

Cast

Reception

Box office

Do You Believe? opened theatrically in 1,320 venues on March 20, 2015, and earned $3,591,282 in its first weekend, ranking number six in the domestic box office, behind The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Cinderella, Run All Night, The Gunman, and Kingsman: The Secret Service.[3]

Critical response

Do You Believe? received negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 25% rating, based on 20 reviews, leaving a rating average of 4.4/10.[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 22 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9]

Film reviewer for The Dove Foundation, Edwin L. Carpenter starts his review with, "...the best faith-based film I have ever seen!"[10] Writing for The Times-Picayune, Mike Scott describes the film as, "It is not mainstream entertainment; it is mainstream Sunday school – which is fine if this is what you want to see at the movie theater."[11] Scott Foundas, Chief Film Critic at Variety magazine, pans the film with "But when all its threads are finally pulled into place, Do You Believe? proves about as spiritually enlightening as a Kmart throw rug."[12] Huffington Post's Jackie Cooper gave the film 7/10.[13]

Michael Foust, writing for The Christian Post nominates the film as the new best evangelistic film ever, he goes on to reason, "The majority of movie critics will likely give it poor reviews, partially because it is more overtly evangelistic than any successful faith-based theatrical movie in recent history. But I'm guessing those who see the film will like it."[14] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Peter Sobczynski reports, "Subtle as a sledgehammer to the toes and only slightly more entertaining, Do You Believe? will no doubt play well with viewers already predisposed towards liking it because it has been designed to reconfirm their already deeply-felt beliefs rather than doing anything that might cause them to think about or challenge those beliefs in any meaningful way."[15] Newsday's Rafer Guzmán gave the film 0.5 stars out of 4 and criticized the cardboard characters and overly sentimental narratives, ultimately concluding that "the movie is primarily interested in asking a question that it has already answered.".[16]

References
  1. "AMC Theatres: Do You Believe?". AMC Theatres. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  2. "'Do You Believe?' debuts to bad reviews, $3.6 million at box office". mlive.com. March 25, 2015.
  3. "Do You Believe? (2015)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  4. McNary, Dave (October 28, 2014). "AFM: Faith-Based 'Do You Believe?' Aims to Match 'God's Not Dead' Success". Variety. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015. "Do You Believe?" focuses on a dozen different lives that intersect on the streets of Chicago, starting with a local pastor (Ted McGinley) being moved by the visible faith of an old street-corner preacher, played by Delroy Lindo.
  5. Koonse, Emma (January 9, 2015). "'God's Not Dead' Follow Up 'Do You Believe' Gets Release Date; Film Encourages Spiritual Action". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015. "Do You Believe," the follow-up to the hit film "God's Not Dead," will be released on March 20, Pure Flix announced on Friday.
  6. Scott Foundas, Film Review: ‘Do You Believe?’, variety.com, USA, March 20, 2015
  7. Michael Foust, Movie Review: 'Do You Believe?' Better Than 'God's Not Dead'; Not Made Just for Christian Moviegoers, christianpost.com, USA, March 19, 2015
  8. "Do You Believe? (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  9. "Do You Believe? Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  10. Carpenter, Edwin L. (March 20, 2014). "Do You Believe?". The Dove Foundation. Retrieved March 30, 2015. The stories all seamlessly fit together by film's end, and the bridge scene is dramatic and powerful. I was not bored once during the movie and was deeply moved on several occasions.
  11. "'Do You Believe?' movie reviews: What critics are saying about the evangelical drama". NOLA. March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  12. Foundas, Scott (March 20, 2015). "Film Review: 'Do You Believe?'". Variety. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  13. "Do You Believe? Aims For Its Target Audience and Succeeds". HuffPost. March 24, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  14. Foust, Michael (March 19, 2015). "Movie Review: 'Do You Believe?' Better Than 'God's Not Dead'; Not Made Just for Christian Moviegoers". The Christian Post. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  15. Sobczynski, Peter (March 20, 2015). "Do You Believe?". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  16. Guzmán, Rafer (March 21, 2015). "'Do You Believe?' review: A missed chance at drama". Newsday. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
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