Grace Unplugged

Just a few days before being released on DVD, Grace Unplugged was named "The Most Inspiring Film of the Year" by The Movieguide Award's Epiphany Prize. This sidenote kind of baffles me. The film is about a woman who has just became a legal adult and is feeling smothered by her passive mother and hasbeen rock-star father who has taken up a good Christian lifestyle, and doesn't feel she has been granted the right to project her own style, confined to the drudgery of being in her father's Church-group, Christian rock band. The young woman decides to cut and run from home after contacting her father's old record producer in order to get an album deal and hopefully make it big. Faith, and clichés, would have it that the young woman would see the dangerous and exploitative side of the recording industry and fall into a series of events that would manipulate her for all she's worth.

Maybe I'm missing something, but even with the tacked-on and somewhat forced emotional relationship between the young woman and her father, I still find this film more of a religious cautionary tale than anything along the lines of inspiring. The young woman aspired to be something bigger, to inspire young souls with her music and her passionate lyrics, and she was mostly tossed around like a cheap ragdoll. This is a wonderful message for young singer-songwriters who may want to break into the business.

The young woman is Grace Trey, played by Aly Michalka, who was famous for about a year when she worked with her sister AJ. Her dad is Johnny Trey (Desperate Housewives' James Denton), a rock star who fell of his peak and hit every ledge on the way down. Finally, the record producer is Kevin Pollak, in a roll that is nowhere near as daring or as shocking as it could be. If all that happened to Grace in her stint as a popular recording artist was in this film, I think many artists and musicians would consider her lucky.

But Grace Unplugged doesn't aspire to be graphic or deeply-rooted in blunt, frightening honesty. It aspires to be a religious parable and to tell the story of an adolescent who got a bit too big for her britches and abandoned the word of God in favor of a more fast-moving life as an artist. For one, the film's first misstep is one that common Christian films make and that's showing the world who does not believe in God, or at least openly express their love for God, in a negative, demeaning light that portrays them as beings that lack ethical decision-making. The film seems to think that because someone holds The Bible and the idea of God close to them, and expresses it openly and frequently, they are already good-hearted and intelligent people, while those who either silently-express themselves or don't have a religious view at all are terrible people we shouldn't trust.

That view in itself is almost a candidate for religious propaganda and it's unfortunate that writers Brad J. Silverman and Brandon Rice appear to think that way. It seems that a growing principle of Christian cinema is to show the secular world as godless degenerates incapable of making the right decision or an inferior one when, in 2014 America, we should be shying away from that and dismantling that idea. But I digress; Grace Unplugged, however, is buoyed by a surprisingly entertaining story and a great central performance by Michalka to at least be deemed worth-watching in some aspects. Even though Denton and Pollak frequently turn up on screen, this is Michalka's show in its entirety, and whether you call it another performance or an attempt to revitalize a career that was slumping, it's a performance that will be one of the most remembered in her filmography for years to come.

The Grace character, however, is a different story. She isn't your atypical adolescent, with aspirations to express herself through music and the limitless wonders of creative expression, but it's her surly attitude becomes a bit much. She often seems ungrateful for what she has been handed, disobeying her parents and then blaming them for getting upset, and often picking fights with her father just to show that she's not a little kid anymore. Then there's the fact that the film feels to gloss over certain incidents in her popularity and zip-by, showing many tours and meetings in montage, not giving us the real idea, or at least the film's, of what actually goes on behind these closed-door board meetings.

Long story short, Grace Unplugged is far from a perfect film, especially showing when it tries its hand at showing emotion which comes off as nothing but manipulative. But there's real talent at hand with Michalka's performance, which shows vulnerability in a realistic way. Then there's the fact that watching someone go from humble beginnings to a celebrity creating some sizable shockwaves domestically is quite entertaining to watch unfold, solely for the reason of character intimacy. If there were ever a film to see for the reason that it has a number of considerable issues but still succeeds in strong, key areas, Grace Unplugged is it.

Starring: Aly Michalka, James Denton, and Kevin Pollak. Directed by: Brad J. Silverman.

Gracie Trey (AJ Michalka) performs with her protective father Johnny Trey (James Denton) at church. She's 18 and desperate to be a music star. Johnny's old manager Frank 'Mossy' Mostin (Kevin Pollak) shows up one day and tells him that his old song has became a viral sensation. Mossy offers him a new shot but he rejects it out of hand. He doesn't want his old problematic life. He's happy with his wife Michelle Trey (Shawnee Smith), church, and family. Gracie has a different idea. Quentin (Michael Welch) is the company intern.

An easy fix would be having the mom there accompanying her. I guess that easy fix is not what the movie is looking for. It's fine for the Christian crowd who sees Hollywood as a den of iniquity. An even easier fix for the movie would be to make Johnny a single parent. The whole movie has a hesitant feel. It's written like a weak melodrama although it could be worst. It's too hesitant to be too dark. It's too light to do anything risky. It seems to be more against the superficiality of commercial capitalism than anything else. It's singing to a certain choir.

What a great story! A girl fighting her dad for some space to grow up and be herself. She is struck with the awesome idea to fill her dad's old shoes in the music business when he turns down the request of an old producer friend. Not knowing the extent of the commitment, she gets caught in a moral dilemma. Some of the scenes made me squirm. If you are a Christian who has ever put a bushel over your candle during a tense moment, you will relate to this! It could be described as the prodigal daughter movie. The cast was perfect. Also a great message of comfort to parents to commend their children to God on that day when it's time for them to leave the nest. God is already at the place where they are going. Trust God!

I LOVE this movie!

Having grown up in a musical family where I was in the shadow of older siblings and parents, I appreciated how she wanted to do her own thing. I loved the chemistry between her and her parents. The Hollywood portion of it was a bit predictable, but most movies--even the best ones--are.

If you are looking for an inspiration film where you don't have to worry about what your child will hear or see, this is the one to watch. It would be a great film to show in a church youth group or family night. I highly recommend it.

The main problem with Christian films is the cheese factor. Movies that take a good quality moral message and then somehow cheese it up with either corny writing, or sloppy directing, or phony performances are starting to become a thing of the past. Once The Passion of the Christ demonstrated that BRILLIANT films could convey morality, the race was on.

Grace Unplugged has some good performances, as well as a heartwarming story. You feel for the characters. You get pulled into the struggles of the father/daughter relationship. You want Grace to follow her dreams. You really vest yourself as an audience member.

That would not be possible if the Christian-cheese factor were prevalent.

I have to admit that there were a couple of moments (without including any spoilers) that the cheese crept in. However, overall- without PROFANITY, NUDITY, GRATUITOUS DRUGS/SIMULATED SEX/SUGGESTIVE ANYTHING, this movie managed to really work. The cast had chemistry. The story pulled heartstrings. It was truly a success.