Heavens to Betsy

Let's address the 800-pound gorilla in the room: "Heavens To Betsy"-- written, directed and produced by Robert Alaniz-- is a faith-based film. That term scares off a lot of would-be viewers. They're afraid that such a movie will be a badly written set of platitudes with poor acting and less-than-professional cinematography. It's the same "bad rap" that Contemporary Christian music gets. Of course, anyone who takes the time to listen to that genre of music or watch Christian films knows nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it should be argued that some of film's greatest triumphs— movies like "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (and its re-make, "Heaven Can Wait"), "It's A Wonderful Life," "Oh God" and "The Bishop's Wife"— were faith-based films.

"Heavens To Betsy" is Alaniz's eighth full-length feature. Six would not be considered faith-based. He has created science fiction, fantasy, mystery and coming-of-age movies. All have given a glimpse into the human condition with a strong sense of morality. So it's not surprising that he would, in his latest film, address the nature of prayer.

Christians were told by Jesus Himself how to pray in what we call "The Lord's Prayer". Praise God, forgive and even pray for your fallen brothers and sisters and ask for what you need— not want— both physically and spiritually. What is often overlooked in prayer is "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Every prayer, even for the lives and well-being of others, should end with "if it be Your will." Obviously, God knows more than we do and has a plan for us all. Nevertheless, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much," as St. James told us.

Betsy Simon is a righteous man. Well, woman. She lives a Godly life, regularly worships and prays not just for herself, but for others. She has never complained when she hasn't received the desired answer, whether it be a bicycle she wanted at age six or the life of her dying sister as an adult.

But something snaps inside this righteous woman when her lifelong ambition— to be a children's book author— is denied her despite all her prayers. She feels betrayed by God, becomes bitter and lashes out at Him for never answering one of her prayers. So our loving God gives her a glimpse of what her life, and she herself, would be like if He had given her everything she prayed for. Yes, everything— including a successful career, that bicycle she wanted as a child, a loveless marriage to a boy she had a crush on in Junior High and even the life of her sister.

The film is a comedy so there are some very funny scenes surrounding her adjustment to a life she knows nothing about filled with furs, mansions and a personal assistant. But she finds that this Betsy has become vain and turned her back on her lifelong values. She forgets that (again from St. James), "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above." This Betsy believes she is the sole architect of her success and her arrogance has corrupted not only herself but her relationship with almost everyone she should hold dear.

Newcomer Karen Lesiewicz is outstanding as Betsy. An accomplished comedienne, she shines even more in her prayers to God, be they whimsical, angry or finally an impassioned cry to be forgiven for treating her Lord and Savior as if he were a spiritual vending machine. As with all of us, God has heard and answered her prayers but often, like the loving Father He is, the answer was "no". Yet He answers her prayer one more time and allows her to set her life right.

Steve Parks, a veteran of Alaniz's films, hits just the right notes as Betsy's personal assistant in her new life. He alone seems unaffected by her successful persona, supports her and subtly steers her towards her redemption.

Of course that redemption could not be possible without Betsy's confidant Pastor John (played wonderfully by Jim O'Heir of TV's "Parks And Recreation"), who comes to believe her story despite much evidence to the contrary and counsels her to accept this rare opportunity to actualize her relationship with the Almighty.

The cast is all top notch but shining lights include Arianna Lexus as Betsy's sister, who is not as Betsy remembers her, MJ Starshak as Betsy's advance woman in a frightening venture and Ruth Kaufman as the book agent who may or may not have deceived her.

The DVD has two endings—one from the theatrical release and one shown on the PureFlix streaming channel. While somewhat different, they both tread the same satisfying moral ground. And one leaves open the possibility of a (to be hoped for) sequel.

Yes, "Heavens To Betsy" is a good faith-based film. But, more important, it's a good film on its own merits, entertaining yet enlightening us to what is most important in our lives, both here and beyond

Made with what looked like 40 dollars, this film comes lurching onto your screen with the ambition of a film that doesn't even try to justify any of what's happening within the film. This is why it's bad that filmmaking has become so accessible, you end of with terrible films that take money and effort away from films that are actually trying to do something and not just feeding someones ego. Looks like it was shot on a cell phone, exposure was off, either overlit, or flatly lit, or everyones skin tones were yellow, gross. Acting is way over the top, comical in how bad some of it was, cartoonish. Not something I would tell anyone to watch, total waste of time, I turned it off because it way overstayed it's welcome.

This movie shows what happens when we put our own desires first without understanding God has a good plan for us. I went away from watching it rehearsing in my mind and heart the last scene where Betsy is praying to God. She is using words in this scene that are quite thought provoking and life changing. I loved the message it taught. Many funny moments too.

Let me start out by saying I'm not a big fan of Christian movies -- not because I have anything against their usual messages, but I usually find them to be rather simplistic with limited filmmaking quality. But then, I'm not a big fan of movies in general these days anyway.

"Heavens to Betsy" isn't great cinema, but it does have a rather quirky sense of humor that's atypical of "Christian movies." Plot-wise it's sort of a cross between alternate-reality stories like "It's a Wonderful Life" (i.e., what if things had gone *this* way instead?) and "Bruce Almighty" (i.e., God wouldn't really do this to someone, but you might not blame him if he did).

This has a plot that keeps you watching to see what happens next, as twists are revealed to both the viewer and the main character. As Betsy reacts to her "alternate reality," though, one might wonder why it never occurs to the other characters to suspect she has amnesia, and never occurs to her to fall back on this as her own explanation.

My only other comment is that I ended up wishing the ending hadn't been as rushed as it is. (This is not the alternate ending, which I haven't seen.) I was left wanting to see, and not just hear about, how things were resolved.

You may notice a couple negative reviews on this site. Notice the jargon and technical viewpoints they use. These are not your typical audience/reviewers. I would suufice it to say that they are... A. Would be talent/directors who can't actually produce anything on their own and thus derive thrills and satisfaction from (poorly) ATTEMPTING to tear rain on others parades. I pray for you frustrated no-talents. :) B. Chances are these negative reviewers were people who were rejected at the films auditions. So because they couldn't cut the mustard 'professionally' they have decided to act-out like their temper tantrums in a 'UN-professional' manner...which i suspect is why they didn't get the gig to begin with, unprofessional brats! Peace <><