The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) Movie Review
If you haven’t heard of Tammy Faye you should probably look her up and gather some background information before seeing this movie. Faye is quite a character and she had a somewhat zany life, most of which is portrayed in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. For those who might not know, Faye was an Evangelist, singer, and talk show host. You’d better buckle up because there’s a lot of talk of the Lord in this movie.
In this biopic, we are introduced to Tammy as a child. She has a clear fascination with God and faith in general. She’s a precocious child, who thinks for herself and has big dreams that her mother and father try (unsuccessfully) to quell. We flash forward to Tammy (Jessica Chastain) as a young woman when she meets Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield). Bakker is equally as ambitious as Tammy and equally as passionate about God. Together they begin to travel the country, preaching the word of God in different cities. They eventually make their way to a television station where they host a puppet show for children. From there, Bakker takes the business reins and the couple creates a theme park and their own television station. It is a massive business venture and Bakker very quickly begins drowning. Eventually he begins doing some shady financial things, gets caught, and goes to prison.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye as a movie isn’t anything spectacular. It’s a very straightforward biopic of a woman who held onto her faith throughout her tumultuous life. It barely skims the surface of who Tammy actually was and generally depicts her in a favorable light. It’s hard not to like her unflinching belief that something good will happen and that people really are good, even if they don’t always act that way. Her marriage to Jim was certainly flawed and there were plenty of allusions that he wasn’t faithful and actually preferred gentlemen. At the end of the day their marriage wound up being another business transaction rather than a passionate love affair.
There were moments of interest, such as when Tammy joins her husband at a table of rather influential men despite not being invited. She, in fact, even pulls a chair from a neighboring table to make room for herself. She tells off the intimidating and pompous Jerry Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio) during this scene and speaks her mind, either oblivious to or unfazed by the men looking down on her. The story also includes Tammy’s rather famous interview with Steve Pieters (Randy Havens), a man living with AIDS at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. Tammy differed from her fellow televangelists in that she was outspoken about supporting the LGBTQ+ community and used her influential position to shed light on issues like AIDS.
Tammy Faye Messner was an interesting person and led a fascinating life but unfortunately The Eyes of Tammy Faye whitewashed her. There wasn’t a lot of substance to her story and writer Abe Sylvia didn’t seem to want to peel back the layers and expose the underbelly. That being said, Jessica Chastain was phenomenal (as usual). She was nearly unrecognizable with outlandish makeup and facial prosthetics that transformed her into Tammy. She nailed Tammy’s voice and gave her a plucky can-do attitude that was hard to dislike. It seems Chastain often runs into this trouble where the story surrounding her cannot possibly live up to her superb acting abilities. It’s a rare occurrence when Chastain gets a script that is worthy of her acting, and unfortunately this was not one of those instances. There were other admirable performances, mainly Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker. If only he had been given more to work with in the script, it could have been a truly stunning performance.
If you decide to watch The Eyes of Tammy Faye, watch it for Jessica Chastain’s brilliant performance. It’s entertaining and really something to see her firing on all cylinders and disappearing into a role. If you haven’t ever experienced it, you should.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You love Jessica Chastain
2. You know about Tammy Faye Messner’s life
3. You’re interested in the inner workings of tele-evangelicals
