Hope Bridge

I was lucky enough to see this film this weekend, not knowing the writers/producers would be speaking at the end of the film. The film was touching and explored the issues of suicide and how it has a ripple effect in regards to how many lives it affects (not just the victim). The casting was fantastic and Booboo Stewart was amazing! Being personally affected by suicide, it was a moving and thought-provoking film. However, what made this film even better for me was hearing David and Christian Eaton share their personal story and how this film came into existence was nothing short of amazing. With no experience in the film industry and a very minimal budget, they pulled off something that most would never even imagine. They said that they hope high schools and colleges around the country will show this film on their campuses to bring more awareness to suicide and to get the discussion going. I applaud them for their efforts and dedication to this very heartbreaking and important issue.

Very slow story telling building to a slow climax on an important topic. I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Drama}

As a Christian but also as a frequent moviewatcher I went into this thing optimistically, hoping for a good story, a strong message, powerful performances and perhaps even more. Unfortunately what I got was quite the opposite. The cover says: 'Booboo was amazing', my question to that is: in what movie? cause it certainly wasn't in this film. He is just there, period. Allthough he is supposed to be the lead character, nearly all other actors and actresses put more effort into making this thing work than he did. Don't get me wrong, I bought this dvd, wanted it to be great and as far as giving it a fair shot goes I too lost my dad to suicide, but not once did I even come close to identifying even remotely with the character Booboo tries to nail. Kevin Sorbo can do nothing to turn the tide and I really think the man was desperate for work when he took on a role in this thing what could have easily been a school filmproject.

Could this have been great? Probably not great, but decent, compelling or at least interesting would have certainly been an option, yet Hope bridge does not deliver. Is there a Christian element in there, a message that brings people to Christ? Definately not! Another missed chance. No, this movie went down so bad with me, that I threw the dvd away almost right after watching it. It was all I could do to get some satifaction out of it I guess..

So in short: Acting is horrid (Booboo being far, far from amazing), the story is predictable and weak, characters are uninteresting, the message is lost due to building frustration and the viewer just losing any interest and finally, I really don't get the movie title. Could anybody please explain why this movie is called Hope bridge? Sure I get the bridge being part of the story, but 'Hope' Bridge? Come on!