Fair or not, Tammy Faye Bakker will always be connected to her then-husband's criminal and moral misdeeds that led to the fall of the Praise the Lord (PTL) network in 1989. She was never charged or investigated for any crimes connected to it. Still, the public ridicule that followed treated her like she was and never really granted her an opportunity to tell her story until 2000.
That year, a documentary named The Eyes of Tammy Faye was release and provided the first actual venue for Tammy Faye’s voice to be heard after everything happened. Twenty-one years later, we have a film adaptation of that documentary.
Starring Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye and Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker, The Eyes of Tammy Faye revisits the events that built the PTL and those that destroyed it. With one of the more salacious stories from the last century to tell and Chastain and Garfield portray it, does The Eyes of Tammy Faye deliver the first big Awards Season movie of 2021?
The on-screen talent is easily the best part of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. With Chastain and Garfield, it’s never a question if the performance is good - it’s always how good. Neither has missed in a role and their turns as Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, respectively, is no exception.
The physical aspects of Chastain’s and Garfield’s performances easily stand out as both mimic the voices and mannerisms of the couple to perfection. From Tammy Faye’s high-pitched, heavily Minnesota-accented voice to the smug smiles Jim gives as he tells their “partners” how much God loves them, it’s all there.
The duo’s performance goes beyond mere impressions and becomes memorable when they humanize the heavily lampooned couple, albeit differently. Chastain is at her best when bringing the more traumatic parts of Tammy Faye’s experience in the marriage and ministry to light. However, it’s Garfield who is the more entertaining in this sense. He mildly emits toxicity that seeps through the disarming Bible verse quotes and other hidden manipulation tools bred from his latent insecurity. Chastain will assuredly be in the Best Actress awards season discussions, but Garfield should receive plenty of mentions as well for Best Supporting Actor.
Behind the camera, The Eyes of Tammy Faye gets a bit more “crossed.” The documentary that served as the film’s source material operates more as the story of Jim Baker and Tammy Faye instead of solely focusing on the life of the lady whose name it bears. Abe Sylvia’s script remains faithful to that focus and adds some additional runtime via dramatizing the events, which works if the goal is simply to adapt the documentary.
Yet, there’s an underlying feeling that the story should go deeper into Tammy Faye being more than Jim Bakker’s wife and alleged accomplice and that’s where the film comes up short. In its efforts to be true to the documentary, Sylvia’s script cuts out the very thing that gave Tammy Faye the “lover of all people” identity the movie wants for her – her resurgence.
That 10-year run of books, TV appearances (especially her season of The Surreal Life), and support of the LGBTQ community showcased the best of Tammy Faye and would have made The Eyes of Tammy Faye a more compelling watch. The decision to leave it almost defeats the purpose of trying to tell her story.
Ultimately, The Eyes of Tammy Faye had the tools to be great. It had the lightning rods for controversy in one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century and it had two supremely gifted performers at its disposal. Instead, it settles for being decent because it left out what would have easily been the most impactful part of the story it wants to tell.
It’s watchable if you don’t know much about the PTL scandal, but works like Tammy Faye: Death Defying and the “Unfaithfully Yours” episode of 20/20 offer a more well-rounded Tammy Faye story.
Comments