Second Glance

Although I'm not one to stand for Christian and religious movies, this movie doesn't do a bad job of trying to be a little edgy. The last line is a classic, that line alone deserves like a million stars but the rest isn't great.

Hey Scotty, Jesus man!

This movie has an epic ending, but this is nothing more than religious propaganda. Seriously, like it tells you that if you give up the path of God, you will be gifted with beautiful women, sex, drugs, heavy metal, and all sort. I don't know who created this but if you were trying to keep people into your religious group, you should probably not have focused on the good aspects of life. Should have been about going to jail or something, not meeting beautiful women and having a blast.

So all in all, if you do not want to be gifted with beautiful women, than continue to follow the path of God. That is the message in the thing (I can't call it a movie because it is not even 60 minutes).

David A.R. White who was the big teen star of Christian oriented films starred in this Nineties version of It's A Wonderful Life. As the George Bailey of the piece, White plays Dan Burgess whose Christian lifestyle has caused him to miss a whole lot of the more fun aspects of high school life or so he thinks.

His Clarence visits him and gives him a day in which he sees what life would have been like had he not become a believer and head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in high school. It's not quite what he expected.

The message is more forced and more theologically formal in Second Glance, but it still contains the universal truth that Henry Travers spoke in It's A Wonderful Life, that it is indeed strange how one life can impact on so many and an awful hole is left you take a good someone out of the mix.

George Bailey was a late thirty something with a wife and four kids and dealing with some real issues, economic and social as well personal in It's A Wonderful Life. Young Dan Burgess is dealing with a lot of teen angst, but his problems aren't any less real. And in his teen life he's had an impact like George Bailey, more than he realizes.

Except for young Mr. White, the acting in the rest of the cast is pretty lame and some of the situations are a bit forced. But Frank Capra had some of the best players around in his film and a top flight script. David A.R. White actually in this film does come across as you might have envisioned a teenage Jimmy Stewart.

White is a talented player and probably could have a career in mainstream films. I suppose it's a credit to his convictions that he's chosen to stick with religious films.

I do wonder how Mr. White might deal with a Gay/Straight Alliance forming at his school. I guess no one wanted to tackle that issue.

But the late Frank Capra was still alive when Second Glance came out and since he didn't sue anyone for plagiarism, I guess he saw the work as a sincere if flawed form of flattery.

More up to date and significant than previous movies. Parents should be more cool.Its way too obvious. Clearly B actors.

This movie is apparently intended for a young, evangelical Christian audience as a teaching tool. For that I give it a 7 out of 10 point vote. It's a decent movie to show a youth group, but I don't think it will be very well received beyond that. For any other audience, I'd rate it lots lower.

The reviewers that saw "It's a Wonderful Life" in this were right on, though I didn't think of that until they mentioned it. I was more reminded of a "Chick Tract", those little 3" by 5" gospel comic books. If Jack Chick ever made a movie out of one of his tracts, it would probably look a lot like "Second Glance." It has a strong Christian message about the power of prayer and the influence each of us has on earth, but it is somewhat hampered by Christian stereotypes. The Christians are all very nice, somewhat passive, and squeaky clean, while all of the non-Christians seem to be bad people.

Muriel the angel plays a major part, and he is the corniest, cheesiest character in the film. He is the most unlikeable angel I have ever seen in any movie, and the biggest negative. I don't know if the directors intended for his personality to come off so badly, or if he just struck me that way. (I admit that he reminded me of someone I know.) Dan's love for a very worldly girl who is not at all his type drives the plot in this movie. Why he ever fell for her in the first place is the one question that I wish had been answered.

But the movie does display positive Christian values, and your youth group will be entertained as they view something wholesome with a good lesson.