Watch I Still Believe (2020) Full Movie Online
Watch I Still Believe (2020) Full Movie Online
Release date: March 13, 2020 (USA)
Directors: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin
Box office: $10.5 million
Budget: $12 million
Producers: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin, Kevin Downes
Directors: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin
Box office: $10.5 million
Budget: $12 million
Producers: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin, Kevin Downes
Synopsis
Desperate circumstances call for a miracle, which makes the pairing of the terminal-illness-romance subgenre with sacrifice-obsessed, faith-based storytelling an obvious match. As such, their fusion has now yielded “I Still Believe,” an overbearingly saccharine young love story with concert-movie undertones from writing-directing duo Andrew and Jon Erwin that’s based on Christian singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp’s career and first marriage.
“Riverdale” star KJ Apa renders Camp a wholesome college heartthrob and aspiring musician from Indiana with a go-getter attitude who, in 1999, meets Jean-Luc (Nathan Parsons, “Roswell, New Mexico”), his best friend and mentor, and Melissa (Britt Robertson, “Tomorrowland”), the girl he falls for at first sight. She is just as interested in him.
Aborting an unwanted love triangle, Jeremy and Melissa manage to get together until illness tests his commitment. Her aggressive cancer diagnosis doesn’t deter those feelings but rather incentivizes Jeremy’s determination to stay with her because the trials must be a sign from a higher power. Throughout it all, however, his professional prospects remain untouched.
Camp’s ascent from opening act to stadium stardom goes unmapped. One day he’s singing one song at a college venue, and a few months later, he’s settled as a household name preaching to large crowds. There’s no mention of a record deal, a tour, or any industry involvement aside from radio appearances where he asks his fans to pray for his wife.
No doubt the focus is the couple’s dramatic ordeal, but the absence of such details when his on-stage presence is so significant assumes the target audience either doesn’t care or is already familiar with how he got there. Melissa’s aspirations, outside of being a wife and a mother, are also not part of the equation.
Nearly indistinguishable spiritual ballads — sung on screen by the musically talented Apa himself — plague the timeline of this fateful relationship, with a duet between them at the beach early on being the most memorable. Seduction has no place in this reality, but there’s believable chemistry between the two leads. Chewing through the eye-roll-worthy lines they are given, Apa and Robertson amp up the charm in solid performances cursed by default because of the narrative vehicle.
Underused as Camp’s mother, emblematic star Shania Twain appears sporadically more like a validating cameo for the Erwins in true “look who we got” fashion than a supporting role with emotional heft. Don’t expect her to sing or play the guitar.
Risqué for this type of production, the use of popular, secular tracks like The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” scoring a trite montage, or nods to Prince, U2, and Audioslave, comes off as an attempt to demonstrate that these characters are not isolated from earthly culture. It’s ineffective in making them cooler, but stands out as a deliberate move not to outright demonize or alienate religious folks who haven’t renounced all “sinful” material.
More than most creators working in this niche, the Erwin brothers understand that making sanctimonious films devoid of any entertainment value is detrimental to their evangelical pursuits, as evidenced in their deceptively commercial feature “Moms’ Night Out.” They are simply better filmmakers who package the same tropes in more polished vessels that mostly resemble mainstream offerings.
“Riverdale” star KJ Apa renders Camp a wholesome college heartthrob and aspiring musician from Indiana with a go-getter attitude who, in 1999, meets Jean-Luc (Nathan Parsons, “Roswell, New Mexico”), his best friend and mentor, and Melissa (Britt Robertson, “Tomorrowland”), the girl he falls for at first sight. She is just as interested in him.
Aborting an unwanted love triangle, Jeremy and Melissa manage to get together until illness tests his commitment. Her aggressive cancer diagnosis doesn’t deter those feelings but rather incentivizes Jeremy’s determination to stay with her because the trials must be a sign from a higher power. Throughout it all, however, his professional prospects remain untouched.
Camp’s ascent from opening act to stadium stardom goes unmapped. One day he’s singing one song at a college venue, and a few months later, he’s settled as a household name preaching to large crowds. There’s no mention of a record deal, a tour, or any industry involvement aside from radio appearances where he asks his fans to pray for his wife.
No doubt the focus is the couple’s dramatic ordeal, but the absence of such details when his on-stage presence is so significant assumes the target audience either doesn’t care or is already familiar with how he got there. Melissa’s aspirations, outside of being a wife and a mother, are also not part of the equation.
Nearly indistinguishable spiritual ballads — sung on screen by the musically talented Apa himself — plague the timeline of this fateful relationship, with a duet between them at the beach early on being the most memorable. Seduction has no place in this reality, but there’s believable chemistry between the two leads. Chewing through the eye-roll-worthy lines they are given, Apa and Robertson amp up the charm in solid performances cursed by default because of the narrative vehicle.
Underused as Camp’s mother, emblematic star Shania Twain appears sporadically more like a validating cameo for the Erwins in true “look who we got” fashion than a supporting role with emotional heft. Don’t expect her to sing or play the guitar.
Risqué for this type of production, the use of popular, secular tracks like The Temper Trap’s “Sweet Disposition” scoring a trite montage, or nods to Prince, U2, and Audioslave, comes off as an attempt to demonstrate that these characters are not isolated from earthly culture. It’s ineffective in making them cooler, but stands out as a deliberate move not to outright demonize or alienate religious folks who haven’t renounced all “sinful” material.
More than most creators working in this niche, the Erwin brothers understand that making sanctimonious films devoid of any entertainment value is detrimental to their evangelical pursuits, as evidenced in their deceptively commercial feature “Moms’ Night Out.” They are simply better filmmakers who package the same tropes in more polished vessels that mostly resemble mainstream offerings.
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