Prayers for Bobby

The whole movie I was crying profusely. The cast was terrific. A must-see, especially for gay people and family of gay people. A gay youth is outcast by his mother and he struggles to accept his homosexuality. He eventually is able to leave his family for Portland, OR, but his mother's emotional/biblical abuse remains scarring his mind. I don't want to spoil what happens in Portland, but you will certainly find this a movie that makes you feel deeply for all the characters involved. I really felt connected to all the characters. This movie was certainly a movie that would be great to watch with someone you care for, as you will be crying the whole time. This movie points out the horrors of the religious Right, and criticizes the arguments against homosexuality.

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

I cried my eyes out, so maybe I shouldn't raise any objections, but... many things in this beautifully made movie were more simplistic than they needed to be.

The priest called Mary's attention to commands in the Bible she obviously wasn't taking literally in her life: we should stone disobedient children to death, we shouldn't eat shellfish. She then looks up these passages and tells the priest she has read them, and continues to raise questions about his reasoning. But earlier in the movie the family amuses itself with Bible quizzes -- I say a phrase, you tell me the book and chapter it's from. How could a woman who clearly knew the Bible better than she knew her own son not already have read Deuteronomy and Leviticus backwards, forwards, and inside out? For a self-convinced Christian like Mary, the contradictions between the passages in the Bible she liked and the ones she didn't like would have been explained away long before the events of this story.

Also, as another poster has said, the story didn't really lead us to understand why the boy did what he did. There's a hint that his boyfriend was seeing other guys, he got a really nasty birthday present from his mother, he was very lonely at the hospital where he worked, but -- the dots weren't really connected. It felt like a couple of scenes had been cut, with the effect that at the climactic moment I found myself asking "Wha'?" instead of feeling the horrible inevitability of it.

Why am I criticizing a movie that gave me the best cry I've had in months? Because movies on Lifetime, even the best ones, always pull back from the edge. There is always at least to some degree an ironed-out, homogenized, Canadian-locationized blandness to the storytelling (even though this one wasn't shot in Canada.) What if they let a movie actually be itself? What if they aimed for Sundance quality nuance, naturalism, emotion, unexpectedness in storytelling? The writing and direction on this movie were first-rate, for what it was (and Sigourney Weaver and Ryan Kelley ripped my heart out)-- but I feel that both writer and director could have gone all the way with it and made it a MOVIE.

I wonder why they didn't.

Aside from the production values (script, acting, cinematography, direction, etc.), which were excellent, this is one of those rare movies that incites thoughtful and far-reaching discussion and maybe even debate, that can impact and change people's lives. That, in my mind is the objective of every filmmaker.

Prayers for Bobby takes Mary Griffith's transformation to the next level. Her impact on parents, while substantial, could only reach a small populace. The filmmakers have taken that outreach and (literally) broadcast it to the world. There is no end to the positive impact this film will have, not only on parents and their children, but on those who may have preconceived notions about gay people.

Have you ever felt like you did not fit in? Have you ever had your parents not accept something about you? If you think you can not get this movie or understand and you are straight, think again. I am straight, but this film reminded me of all the times in my life I did not feel wanted or as though I fit in. I've spent the last year of my life fighting for the one place on the planet I felt like I belonged, and the one industry I felt I fit into. Have you ever had to fight to be? Have you ever had to stand up for something you believe in? Have you ever thought you were right about a belief and then discovered how wrong you were? Have you ever judged someone by ignorant standards, only to realize you were wrong? Are you part of a minority that has been persecuted and degraded? If any of this applies to you, see this film. It is more than just a movie about homosexuality. It is a film about people, family, love, friendship, and understanding. And if you are someone who thinks that homosexuals are evil, I dare you to watch this film.