I also got to attend a screening of “Fireproof,” and I too had pretty low expectations. As a self-admitted film snob, I’ve never seen a Christian film that I would honestly recommend to a non-evangelical friend, as the quality—not just the technical filmmaking, but the story, writing and acting—would simply turn off friends not well-versed in “Christian culture.” Even “Facing the Giants,” which was beloved by almost every churchgoer I know, struck me as a very dumbed-down and very American evangelical culture picture of faith: “Trust Christ and we’ll win the big game! Yay!”

Like the reviewer here, I too came away surprised. While the volunteer church-members-turned-actors were as good as volunteer actors will be, and while the script was still somewhat cheesy, across the board it was the best “Christian film” and the first explicitly evangelical film I’ve seen that I would favorably compare to other films. The story was engaging, the emotional moments were not manipulative, but rang true, and the technical quality of the film compared to any other lower budget drama you’d see in theaters. The explicit nature of the explanation of faith (it is an evangelical movie) was not as awkward as the reviewer here seems to think—while it’s obvious, it’s revealed gradually throughout the movie as characters come to faith in Christ—much like in real life. To the extent it may seem uncomfortable, that may simply be that many of us are simply not that comfortable talking about Christ in non-church situations anyhow.

The movie succeeds as a movie and as evangelism (well, as much as a movie can). I’ve already recommended the movie to one non-Christian movie fan, and I’m sure I’ll do it again.