Feel good faith through failure

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, October 21st, 2022. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a new movie from Pure Flix.

The streaming service that’s family-friendly and faith-based has upped its original content of late. Here’s arts and media editor Collin Garbarino with a review of its latest film, Nothing Is Impossible.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Nothing Is Impossible is an inspirational faith-based sports movie that depicts God working through failure. It’s also got a healthy dose of romance. Fans of Hallmark-style love stories will enjoy Nothing Is Impossible. So, go into it expecting the sugarcoating.

Scott: Hi, Mrs. Holcott.

Mrs. Holcott: Your rent’s due.

Scott: I know, I know. I’m sorry.

Scott Beck dreamed of playing professional basketball, but instead of donning a jersey with his name on the back, each morning Scott slips on a work shirt with his name on the pocket. Twenty years earlier he was passed over in the NBA draft. Now he works as a janitor at the Christian high school he formerly attended. But at least he stays in good physical condition. His beat-up truck is so unreliable he finds himself jogging most places.

Ryan Aikens is the new owner of the Knoxville Silver Knights, a professional basketball team. She’s got her own problems.

Ryan: The truth is we barely have enough money to pay the players we have now. And the board is threatening to move the franchise.

Coach: So you tried to put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it. Maybe it’s time I took up fishing.

Ryan: No, no, no, no. Hear me out. I may have a solution to this, and it’s a bit unconventional. Why don’t we try open tryouts.

Archie: We’d look desperate.

Coach: We’d look like clowns.

Ryan: It’s an event, unique and promotable.

When Scott finds out about the open tryouts, he sees an opportunity to recapture his lost dream. But the road to redemption won’t be easy. Scott’s pushing 40 years old. And the team owner Ryan? She happens to be the ex-girlfriend he left at the altar 20 years earlier. Scott still has skills on the court, but will it be enough to make the team? Will it be enough to give him a second chance with Ryan?

The idea of an NBA team holding open tryouts sounds absurd. But you don’t have to suspend as much disbelief as you think. The NBA’s minor-league teams regularly hold open tryouts, and this small-market Knoxville team feels a bit minor league-ish. But can the 39-year-old Scott really keep up on the court? Well, LeBron James turns 38 later this year, and he’s still driving to the basket. Plus Scott’s stayed sharp helping out with the high-school team.

Scott: You guys do have heart. But to win, you’ve got to use your heads. You have to be smart. You have to think. Average height of a Clayton player’s what?

Player: They’re big coach.

Scott: Yeah, they’re bigger than us.

The film features solid performances. David A.R. White plays Scott—you’ll recognize him as Reverend Dave from the God’s Not Dead franchise—and soap star Nadia Bjorlin plays Ryan. Veteran film and television actor Harry Lennix provides the film with gravitas as the Silver Knights’ basketball coach who wants nothing to do with these open tryouts. The production values are pretty good for a made-for-TV movie.

With this movie, Pure Flix follows the tried-and-true formula the Hallmark Channel has used for decades. These movies can be a little cheesy, but they are popular for a reason.

Ryan: Well, I came to tell you that Coach Banks is releasing a list of players that made it to the second round. And you’re on that list. You just have to sign your life away.

Scott: Is everyone on that list getting a visit from the team’s owner?

Ryan: Just the ones that she almost married.

Nothing Is Impossible takes that formula and baptizes it with some overt Christian references. Scott and his friends pray and go to church. Characters grapple with God’s will for their lives, and there’s talk about God’s blessing in our failures.

Nick: Spit it out, man.

Scott: I don’t know. I’m just thinking about the whole abundant life thing. Is that really the promise you want to make these kids?

Nick: I mean it’s not my promise. It’s God’s.

Scott: I mean, do you see very many abundant lives around here, Nick? Cause from where I’m sitting, I just see a lot of regret and hopelessness.

Christian movies often risk becoming prosperity-gospel fairy tales—once the characters pray and believe hard enough their problems disappear. The martyrs and the persecuted church wouldn’t recognize that version of Christianity. Nothing Is Impossible tries to avoid the name-it-claim-it mindset. But despite all the talk about failure, we know there will be a “happily ever after” at the end of this movie. Waiting on a promised reward in Heaven doesn’t fit the genre’s formula. Neither does talk of sin or repentance.

Nick: What’s going on with you, man?

Scott: I don’t know. I just feel like I got a shot at getting my life back.

Nick: Scott, you’ve always had your life. You’re just not doing anything with it.

Nothing Is Impossible is family friendly entertainment with plenty of feel-good moments. It’s also refreshing to see Christianity depicted positively. Just don’t expect to find deep theological truths in Nothing Is Impossible. Hallmark style movies offer an entertaining, yet shallow and candy-coated, view of romance. Nothing Is Impossible offers the same—adding some sugary, feel-good faith.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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