Jake Taylor is the mvp basketball player for his school with a great scholarship waiting for him at his dream school. Than one day Roger, the kid he grew up with and who used to be his best friend but now ignores comes to school and kills himself. Jake soon begins to question his entire life and his actions, leading him to wonder if he could have prevented this.
This film was trying to do something very important but yet had too many shortcomings. The script alone needed work. The story branched out in too many directions from it's main plotline. The film evidently about trying to prevent suicide but we soon find ourselves immersed in a story that is also suddenly about unwanted teen pregnancy, divorce, the most shallow of high school drama, and figuring out what Christianity is really all about. There are just too many plotlines for one film and pretty soon we wonder if the film is actually going to end with the same topic as what it started with.
The other major flaw is the characters. All the characters feel shallow, lacking the depth that is really necessary for us to fully care what they are going through, most of the time only relating if we've experience that event in our lives as well. There is really only one side to the majority of these characters, so we either hate them or like them, and even the lead seems to have a sudden turn of heart that just doesn't transition well. But for being the realm of the "Christian" film the acting was better than most; less sappy, but still not phenomenal.
I will give the film this, it was trying to do something crucial and important in a young society. It is a film that praises acceptance of all people, no matter who they are. The messages and themes of this film are important and with that I think it's an important film. I praise it for it's purpose and attempt to make a better film for this genre. Unfortunately it is also the type of film that will mainly resonate well with some families and the Christian audience, even though it is less preachy than most. But what I applaud most for this film is it's praise for the importance of all human life.
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