Dial a Prayer (2015)

This is a movie with an obviously cynical view of prayer from the outset. The church show. In occasional take-backs appears to be Catholic, but the towns people who went to it do not. All of the "Christian" characters are played as if they were paste board mock-up of real people. All of the "Christian" characters show their ignorance at everything from relationships to Biblical facts, and lack genuineness in their prayer life and home life.The only person presented with genuineness is the the faithless and miserable Cora, in search of truth and riddled with guilt. But her language, sexual behaviour, drinking and drug taking reinforces that this film is aimed at a general audience in a cynical time, to the exclusion of a Christian audience. It presents a clichéd atheistic view of poor, misguided believers.The pace of the movie is very slow. Half way through my wife said that if it was any slower we should just turn it off. The only reason we watched it through was because we paid for the viewing. Generally an unsatisfying waste of money.

Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I always beg for more character development and back stories. I loved this movie, but I needed to know a bit more about the supporting characters.William Macy plays a wonderfully animated boss of a Dial-A-Prayer business. But we never hear how he got into the field or why. Also, no one ever identifies what church the girl's family, the call center, and the town identify with. Is it Catholic? Interestingly, there is practically no mention of Jesus, except when the funny boss says that he parted the Red Sea.Therefore, I think a non-Christian could feel comfortable watching this without feeling bombarded by J.C.The film is not really about religion. It is about second chances and turning one's life around. There is good usage of the Fall and Winter Midwest landscape. One could see it as either bleak, or starkly beautiful, depending on attitude. There are some clever references to that. The final scene shows a couple quietly beholding the glory of a blank snowy setting.Do prayers make a difference? Our protagonist keeps asking this question. Of course they do, but the film focuses only on the aspect of making people feel better. It doesn't mention any metaphysical effect on the world at large, or the idea of praying for world peace and messianic redemption. People are only praying for themselves and their family to deal with domestic and health issues.Casting is so essential to a character-driven film. This one aced the test. I don't know who Brittany Snow is, but her no-makeup sadness came through the screen with genuine sincerity. Macy phoned it in, no pun intended, but in his case, he phones it in beautifully. Glen Headly, the mom, fit the profile to perfection. No one here is great looking or flashy. They are ordinary people in a working class Midwestern town trying to make it through life the best way they can.What I loved the most was the way they structured dialogue scenes. The characters would say just the right amount of words to each other, without overdoing it or milking the scenes for manipulative effect. I could have done without the few dream sequences and the schmaltzy music toward the end, but the photography was first rate.

Firstly, this is not just for religious people, as a atheist, I really enjoyed this film. Brittany Snow displays such emotional depth and a great character. She told the story so beautifully, I, a usually emotional robot, was brought to tears. The score, also, so wonderfully aides the telling of this emotional roller-coaster.Deeply relatable, anyone may see a part of themselves in one of the characters. Even if just slightly, with themes of guilt, love, depression and that human need to feel good. A superb film that is heart warming and wrenching at the same time.I think that there is room for a sequel, further analysing Cora's family breakdown and the effect of his mother's injuries on Chase. Everyone involved with the project should be applauded. Slight criticism is that it is short, this may be budget but it is still a great film.

In the last year or so, quite a few films have debuted which have been targeted to a more conservative Christian audience, such as "Son of God" as well as "God is Not Dead". I assumed that "Dial a Prayer" is pretty much another one of these films, though despite its plot, it isn't exactly something that will appeal to many of the same folks who would have seen these other movies. The film is about a surly young lady, Cora (Brittany Snow). She's got attitude, that's for sure...and you know that she's been sentenced to do community service for some sort of crime, though for much of the film you have no idea what she's done. As for her community service, she works for a Dial-a-Prayer service--an odd choice for community service considering her attitude about life as well as what crimes she committed. Oddly, however, despite being an angry, lost soul, through the course of the film, she comes to develop a sense of purpose and begins to shed some of her anger and hopelessness."Dial a Prayer" has a lot going for it. Snow's performance is exceptional, as she played troubled and angry quite well--so well that it was difficult liking her character for much of the film. This is a major plus. Additionally, it sure didn't hurt that the nice minister who ran the center was played by William H. Macy--a guy who just make everything look so easy and natural. I also like the notion that ACTING good, after a while, makes you good-- something fundamental to many philosophies and branches of psychology. The film also really was nice because it was very unique and there isn't anything else like it that I've seen in a very long time.But, the film also has a huge problem which will easily impact its marketability. For the traditional Christian audience, while most of the story will make them quite happy, the cursing and sex in the film just don't fit in with their values and it's hard to imagine them not being offended. As for others, there are also a lot of folks who have no interest in a film about spirituality--and they'd never see such a movie in the first place. As a result, while it's a very good film, I just don't know if it has much of an audience, though it is worth seeing.