I Can Only Imagine (2018) * *

Directed by:  Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin

Starring:  J. Michael Finley, Dennis Quaid, Madeline Carroll, Trace Adkins, Cloris Leachman, Brody Rose, Tanya Clarke

One of the critical scenes in I Can Only Imagine can double as the basis for why it doesn't work.   The Christian rock group MercyMe is at a crossroads professionally, and the band's manager Scott Brickell (Adkins) tells the group's troubled lead singer Bart Millard (Finley), "I hear something that sounds genuine and authentic, and then you pull back,"    The movie feels the same way.    It contains brief flashes of power and genuine emotion, but then retreats into safe clichés.    Like other faith-based films I've seen, I Can Only Imagine preaches to the converted but presents not much else to care about for those who aren't already Christian.

The movie is based on the backstory of the late 1990's song of the same title.    It traces the roots of Bart's childhood of abuse and putdowns by his gruff, wounded father Arthur (Quaid) and how later in life Bart learned to forgive his father and heal himself in the process.    This is the recipe for a powerful family drama, but I Can Only Imagine doesn't delve as deeply into this as it should.    We also see the genesis of the band MercyMe, which according to the film's epilogue has released 21 #1 Christian singles.    These scenes fall back on generic rock band biopic formula, with the myopic focus on Bart so tight that we aren't sure if the rest of the band is even named, let alone given any scenes of any depth.    They exist simply to be the guys who play music while Bart sings.    If the actors who played the rest of MercyMe were replaced by other actors in midstream, I'm not sure I would've noticed.

I Can Only Imagine is less preachy than other faith-based films I've viewed, but when it pours on the faith, it isn't subtle.   The actors stop playing characters and instead become a vessel for the filmmakers.    That's a shame, because the performances in I Can Only Imagine are strong, played by actors with considerable screen presence and a seasoned pro in Dennis Quaid, whose meanness as Arthur never seems forced, nor does his eventual redemption before his death from cancer.    Finley can sing (he is a Broadway actor) and he handles himself deftly in some tricky scenes in which he has to overcome some stiff writing.    Country singer Trace Adkins has an air of authority and avuncular authenticity which allows him to be totally credible when telling Bart about what it takes to succeed in the music business.     It took me a minute to recall where I saw Madeline Carroll, who plays Bart's on-again, off-again (mostly off-again) girlfriend, but I remember her in Rob Reiner's Flipped.    She has a perky face and a winning smile, it's just too bad she spends most of the movie angry at Bart.  

I confess while Finley can surely belt out the tunes, the songs in I Can Only Imagine don't distinguish themselves.    The title song, which is supposed to be what all the hoopla is about, is frankly unmemorable.    I didn't leave the theater humming it or even recalling how it went.    But, it became a high watermark for the band, which continues to make music to this day.    The climactic concert scene contains some of the usual clichés of such scenes, including the slow-gathering applause and the late arrival of the singer's girlfriend, who the singer spots in the crowd and smiles at knowingly.   Would you be shocked to learn that after the song, the singer makes a beeline for the girl and they fall into each other's arms to the cheers of the adoring crowd while the score swells to a crescendo of elation?  

The epilogue tells the ongoing story of MercyMe and mostly Bart and finishes with footage of the real Bart Millard giving a speech about his father at a National Prayer Breakfast attended by Donald Trump and Mike Pence last year.    This may please evangelical Trump supporters, but it drew a groan from this viewer.    Poor Bart went through all he went through and his ultimate reward is meeting Donald Trump and Mike Pence?   Yikes.