Once again, folks: Religious certainty might make for comforting sermons, but it rarely makes for good drama. Writer/director T.C. Christensen, inspired by a Utah true story, follows the Hansen family—parents Jason (Jasen Wade) and Heather (Heather Beers)—as they cope with a diagnosis that their teenage daughter Kennedy (Tatum Chiniquy) has a rare, likely-fatal degenerative neurological disease. The focus is on Kennedy’s warm heart and inspiring spirit, with an anecdotal structure touching on episodes where others allowed her the chance to live out her dreams, or she touched others to be better people. But while Christensen manages to jerk more than a few tears successfully, there’s little conflict to drive the story when Kennedy is almost exclusively a stoic saint, and her parents do little wrestling with anger or questioning their faith. Like many of the LDS-themed dramas of the past 20 years, the goal of this one is comforting reassurance that the principles of the church are true. It’s sweet, well-intentioned, earnest and—if one is not already inclined to accept its theology—a one-note hymn.
By
Scott Renshaw