Though I am LDS, I've grown wary of LDS cinema. The God's Army movies were outstanding, I enjoyed The Singles Ward, and even Charly was quite good in my opinion, but I'm constantly on my guard when watching a Mormon-made movie for cheesy sentiment and shameless propaganda of my religion. I got this movie at a store closing sale and figured I'd try it out, but was fully prepared for cheesy dialogue and preachiness. I was pleasantly surprised.
The movie is about a Mormon girl from Utah named Jenny (Alison Akin Clark) who lives for dance. She goes to New York University to pursue it but is turned down for the first scholarship she auditions for. She vows to work hard and get the scholarship next year. The first fellow Latter-Day Saint that she meets, a film student named Paul (Michael Buster), asks to make a documentary chronicling her progress, and they become friends, though Jenny clicks her tongue at his views on dating--"I'm not ready to grow up just yet," he explains, when he tells Jenny that his ambition is to date a girl from every one of the fifty states. Meanwhile, Jenny quickly becomes obsessed with local musician Dave (Jeremy Elliott), who is not LDS but is otherwise her dream man, and they begin dating. Jenny gradually loses interest in pursuing her dream of dancing and toys with the idea of giving everything up for Dave.
While watching this love triangle unfold I rolled my eyes, thinking Jenny would either (A) convert Dave and live happily ever after with him, gently letting Paul down and finding someone else for him, or (B) cheerfully realize she's in love with good little LDS Paul after all. But the movie surprises you. The relationships between Jenny/Paul and Jenny/Dave are both so well developed and lovingly portrayed that soon I realized any possible romantic outcome would be bittersweet and would be unexpected either way, for the movie favors neither relationship explicitly. While beautifully showing the sweet and easy friendship between Jenny and Paul, it also shows absolute empathy and understanding for anyone who has ever fallen in real love with someone outside their faith, and doesn't attempt to simplify or undermine the experience with a dismissive "The LDS person is always better for you, that's that." Instead, we get to consider the emotional complexities involved right along with Jenny, and no deus ex machina of "Dave was just waiting for someone like her to show him the gospel!" comes to the rescue.
For non-LDS viewers (though I suppose there are unlikely to be any), the movie is also refreshingly light on shoving our religion down the audience's throats. Non-LDS characters are positively and respectfully portrayed and the movie never once tries to convert them. One of my favorite scenes took place in Jenny's philosophy class, where the teacher challenges Jenny to prove the existence of God. Though Jenny is flustered at the question and can offer no better argument than what she feels in her heart, her non-member friend offers an assertive and insightful speech for the existence of God. I thought this was very refreshing to not make the LDS character the awe-inspiring one with all the conviction and answers, and this is coming from an LDS viewer, mind you.
All in all, I quite enjoyed this movie and was impressed with its overall emotional maturity. Non-LDS viewers may be unmoved, and so may LDS viewers for that matter, but personally I'd recommend it.
