Mountain Top

This is a movie worth seeing. I was fortunate to see an early screening and even though I knew the story line from reading the book many times, I was carried along as if it were new to me. The movie is beautifully done in every way. The choice of actors who portray Whitlow's characters is excellent. The "movie in my mind" (you know the one you make up when you read a book) was flat and lifeless after seeing the depth and life that the actors brought to these characters. Barry Corbin makes you believe he IS Sam and Coby portrays Mike perfectly. The surprise for me was the actress who played Muriel-she was amazing! Whitlow's story artfully weaves these two very different men's lives together and shows you how "Papa" works all things together for good. His story is wonderful on its own, but when paired with the vision that Gary Wheeler brings in film, it becomes a movie that feeds your heart and spirit, wrapping you in the beauty of nature with perfectly fitted music as a backdrop. For anyone who loves a movie that carries you into the characters' lives and makes you root for them, laugh with them and cry with them, this is a movie for you!

Christian movies are getting better. This movie has a spiritual depth which I only seen in the Passion of CHRIST. It shows that communion with the FATHER can be so real that many will think you are a "crackpot". This is one of the wonderful things about losing yourself and being consumed by God

I just started a subscription to UP Faith and Family, and this movie appeared at the top as a recommendation. The cover was done well, so I proceeded to read the description. It peaked my interested, so I gave it a try. It captured my attention from the start, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I kept thinking "why haven't I heard of this before!" Great plot, beautiful scenery, and such good acting. Coby Ryan McLaughlin was so convincing - no over-acting, and I felt the kindness of the man he played. And the performances of Barry Corbin and Lin Shaye were truly awesome. Loved it! Wish I could find more like it.

A pastor living near the mountains in western North Carolina (Coby Ryan McLaughlin) is approached by the wife of a man in jail for serious embezzlement. The couple (Barry Corbin & Lin Shaye) insists that God wants him, a former lawyer, to be the defense attorney. But why take time away from his pastoral ministry to defend a criminal? Unless, the man's not a thug at all.

"Mountain Top" (2017) is a crime drama written & directed by a coproducer of "War Room" (2015). While not as powerful as that film, it's at least on the level of "God's Not Dead" (2014) and "Do You Believe?" (2015), just not as evangelistic and with a scenic mountain town milieu.

It's refreshing to watch a crime drama with overt verbiage concerning God and faith, yet it's thankfully done in such a natural fashion it comes across low-key and not overdone.

Valerie Azlynn is on hand as the pastor's wife. She looks like a tall version of Valerie Bertinelli when she was young.

The film runs 1 hour, 42 minutes, and was shot in Huntersville & Charlotte, North Carolina.

GRADE: B.

Mountaintop succeeds where other Christian films fail, by delivering a smart storyline that engages Christians and non-Christians alike. This film sheds many of the hallmarks of Christian movies; the cheesy acting, sappy love scenes, and deathly dull inspirational music are nowhere to be found. Instead, the viewer is treated to the quirky, and at times brilliant acting of Barry Corbin and Danny Vinson, as well as a score that remains upbeat and appropriate to a film set in the heart of North Carolina. Though southerners will better understand the culture, and humor of this film, the acting and storyline makes Mountaintop relevant to any theatre goer looking for a good time. In the word's of Braxton Hodges, "It sure is good though."