Good, clean fun?

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, August 23rd. 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 faith-based film.

The Kendrick Brothers are best known for their films Fireproof, War Room, and Facing the Giants. This weekend, their newest film opens in theaters. Reviewer Chelsea Boes tells us the pros and cons of The Forge.

CYNTHIA: Isaiah. I love you. But if you’re going to live here you’re gonna pay me rent here. You’re not gonna spend all your graduation money on sneakers and video games.

CHELSEA BOES: The Forge follows Isaiah Wright, an angry young man abandoned by his father and failing to launch.

ISAIAH: Rent? You’re gonna make me pay to live in my own house?

CYNTHIA: YOUR house? You are my son. But I’m giving you one month to find a job.

Priscilla Shrier plays Isaiah’s mom, Cynthia… who’s praying her son through a hard time. Isaiah, played by Aspen Kennedy, sets out with a crummy attitude to find a job. But, despite his anger and disrespect, young Isaiah attracts the attention of business owner Joshua Moore, played by Cameron Arnett. Here the Kendrick brothers set up the movie’s major theme: discipleship of men by men.

JOSHUA: In what ways do you want to grow in the next year? What kind of man do you want to be? And what do you want people to think when they see you coming?

If you’ve seen other Kendrick Brothers films, you’ll recognize the familiar, family-friendly tone of this film, as well as the squeaky-clean characters. Moore gives Isaiah a job, some tough love, and mentoring sessions that teach forgiveness and the golden rule. Isaiah eventually becomes a Christian and is inducted into Moore’s conclave of Christian men called the Forge.

JOSHUA: We pray together, encourage one another, and we keep each other accountable as we follow Jesus.

The film depicts circumstances that really do happen and should move us—such as men encouraging each other, spiritual conversion, and answered prayer. It’s loaded with characters reading and reciting Bible verses and includes favorite sermon points: discipleship, prayer, forsaking idolatry. And a prayer circle meeting lends the film a couple genuinely funny, true moments.

MISS CLARA: We can’t treat prayer like it’s some spare tire that you only pull out in an emergency. No. Prayer has to be more like the steering wheel.

For some viewers, the Christian aspects of the film will be enough to recommend it. By the end, Isaiah is at last getting his life together: paying rent, mowing the lawn, taking his mom to dinner, doing pushups, getting baptized, reading the Bible, and attending mentorship sessions. So the moral is: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

But The Forge is not a movie so much as a thinly veiled nondenominational sermon, and it’s populated by caricatures instead of real people. The story springs from the message and not the other way around. This is a recipe for a sappy story no matter the message . . . and The Forge is no exception. Scenes of the men’s meetings are prolonged and the third act drags. In its favor, though, The Forge does tug at the heartstrings at times and makes one satisfying reveal. The performances of Isaiah and Joshua make the most of a predictable script.

ISAIAH: How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. I’ve tried hard to find you. Don’t let me wander from your commands.

Isaiah presumably feels God telling him to clean up his life, and he moves about his room throwing away magazines, ditching video games, and deleting apps– choosing between God and earthly enjoyments.

And that’s the problem with The Forge. Like Isaiah pitches his magazines and video games in favor of serving the Lord, this film is just one more Christian movie that pitches story in favor of a sermon.

I’m Chelsea Boes.

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