The Eyes Of Tammy Faye (12A)

Tammy Faye Grover is raised in a blended family of eight children in International Falls, Minnesota. In 1960 at North Central Bible College, she meets Jim Bakker and they forego studies to marry and establish a travelling ministry, which leads to a big break on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) under Reverend Pat Robertson. Jim's ambition sows the seeds of The PTL Club (Praise The Lord) and he openly woos conservative pastor Jerry Falwell.

LondonNet Film Review
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye (12A)

Based on the award-winning 2000 documentary of the same title, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye dramatises the rise and fall of “the Ken and Barbie of televangelists” through the heavily mascaraed peepers of its easily duped heroine. Director Michael Showalter and scriptwriter Abe Sylvia offer an exceedingly charitable portrayal of the relentlessly upbeat woman at the centre of an embezzlement scandal, which sank the evangelical Christian PTL Television Network and originally sentenced Tammy’s husband Jim to 45 years in prison on fraud and conspiracy charges…

“What you see is all there is of me,” chirrups the luminous Jessica Chastain as Tammy in an early scene. It’s a barnstorming, all-guns-blazing central performance that fixates on the wife’s overly trusting nature without making cruel fun at the altar of her campness and theatricality. Chastain doesn’t hold back, whether she is enthusiastically spreading the word of the Lord through Tammy’s handmade Susie Moppet doll, building a successful music recording career or feeding her one addiction – a diet soft drink – through a lipstick-smudged straw before she trades carbonation for prescription medication. Oscar nominations have been snagged for far less.

Conversely, Andrew Garfield feels underpowered as the architect of the couple’s downfall. Depicted as a materialistic social climber, who gaslights and manipulates in pursuit of the gaudy trappings of fame, it’s tough to believe that Tammy keeps on her blinkers for so long, especially when her mother repeatedly warns about lining pockets with scripture: “Serving God don’t feel like it should be a money-making opportunity.”

Tammy Faye Grover (Chastain) is raised in a blended family of eight children in International Falls, Minnesota by a devout mother (Cherry Jones), who hides her eldest daughter from the congregation to avoid public reminders of her failed first marriage and divorce. In 1960 at North Central Bible College, Tammy meets Jim Bakker (Garfield) and they forego studies to marry and establish a travelling ministry, which leads to a big break on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) under Reverend Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds).

Jim’s ambition sows the seeds of The PTL Club (Praise The Lord) and he openly woos conservative pastor Jerry Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio). However, Falwell’s lip-curling rejection of homosexuality troubles Tammy – “We’re all just people made out of the same old dirt and God didn’t make any junk,” she argues – and she defiantly interviews Aids patient Steve Pieters (Randy Havens) on the TV network.

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is a sparkling showcase for Chastain’s multi-layered metamorphosis. She comes closest to divinity but the rest of Showalter’s sermon is far from heaven, too conventional and narrow in its critical judgment to teach us anything new about the showbusiness of televised ministry.

– Sarah Lee