Prayers for Bobby

Sigourney Weaver hits a home-run performance as a right-wing bible carrying nut who can't accept the fact that her younger son is gay.

She resorts to just about everything possible to get him to amend his ways. She sends him to therapy, constantly belittles him and uses the bible frequently to justify her disdain for his lifestyle.

A confused and bewildered young man, Bobby eventually commits suicide. The real tragedy here is to get his mother thinking that the condemnation of gays is really not the way to go.

The film is a very good one as it especially comes to grips with the church's condemnation of the gay life style and the use of the bible to distort this way of living.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY I'm not much of a fan of the Lifetime network. They usually produce wishy-washy and cliché titles usually about divorce, or pregnancy issues, or something that really has no plot or substance. However, being a fan of Sigourney Weaver and her work, and also interested in the story that actually has an actual important theme, I debated whether it would be worth two hours of my time. It was. It is 1979. Bobby Griffith (Ryan Kelley) is a teen who has a loving family and a pretty good life. However, he believes himself to be a homosexual. He fears that his mother, Mary, (Weaver) will not accept him and love him anymore, due to her clear and well-known loath and contempt of gay and lesbians due to her faith and literal interpretation of the bible. When Bobby tells his brother he thinks he is gay, his brother tells their mother, hoping his mother can help Bobby. Instead, she treats Bobby as if he has a disease that can be "cured" through God. Mary's overbearing and abrasive treatment towards Bobby distances him from his family out to Oregon to live with his cousin, who believes anyone should be allowed to love anyone. While in Oregon, Bobby meets a guy who makes him feel good about himself. When Bobby comes back from his vacation, he tells his family about the guy he met and his mother reacts as if he is a perverse and sick person. She tells him she WILL NOT have a gay son. This upsets Bobby enough to permanently move to Oregon without a goodbye from his mother. While in Oregon, feeling the isolation of the family he loves, he becomes suicidal and cannot take it anymore. He commits suicide. For the rest of the film, we see his mother go through some major character development and we see her try to overcome her ignorance. I never cried during a movie before until I saw this movie. Prayers for Bobby was truly an amazing movie. Watching Sigourney Weaver as Mary Griffith broke my heart. She was believable and perfect. Ryan Kelley also did a great job playing Bobby. He showed a lot of range and purity in his performance. The movie definitely has a made-for-TV and Lifetime channel feel to it. It WAS a made-for-TV Lifetime original movie, so get over that (I did). I am so glad I saw this and I urge anyone and everyone to see it. 9/10

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to watching Prayers for Bobby at all. I had seen the previews for weeks and since it was a "Lifetime" original, I had low expectations and even made fun of it with my friends. All that changed when I saw how wonderful it actually turned out to be. Prayers for Bobby is an emotionally and physically tiring film that entertains from start to finish.

The movie is just so clever at times. While it is thin and bland too, it is brilliantly played out and executed in the sense that you actually care what's going on and what's going to happen to these characters. They keep you interested with problem after problem and therefore they don't have enough time to let you get bored. Sigourney Weaver plays an amazing role as well, and the movie is just so endearing that I really lose myself in it every time I watch it.

It was a truly spectacular film; one of the best "made for TV"s I have seen, and it was a splendid job well done for all the cast and crew. If you think you can enjoy, I suggest you see it right away.

It would be so wonderful if the people that this piece is about actually watched it and understood what kind of hell they're putting their kids in for no particularly good reason.

It should be required viewing in every Baptist church on the planet. And there are a few other evangelical organizations with strange ideas about human beings who might learn something.

I will be surprised if Sigourney Weaver doesn't get at least an Emmy nomination, particularly given the speech she gives to the city council, both well written and well delivered.

Ryan Kelly also delivers a believable performance as Bobby, regardless of some of the cutting required to get the film into a two hour programming window.

The movie went off five minutes ago and I'm still sobbing. This movie should be required viewing for every parent. Beyond the powerful subject matter, Prayers for Bobby is ultimately about loving and accepting your children for whoever they are. It's about nurturing their self-esteem, raising them to treat others with respect and praying that they go through life with love in their hearts. Bottom-line, it made me realize that I will always love my son unconditionally. He's four now. And if I'm blessed enough that we are both around when he's 14, 24 or 44, I will stand by and love him for whoever he is as he comes into his own and forever.