Miss Flicks

The Eyes of Tammy Faye: Film Review

I have been excited to see Jessica Chastain‘s transformation into Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye for ages and thankfully the film is finally coming to UK cinemas, months after many other countries!

Based on the 2000 documentary of the same name, this biopic runs from 1952 to 1994 and charts the rise and fall of Tammy Faye and her husband Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield). The passionate Christians fall in love in college and get married in 1961, before dropping out to become travelling preachers. They find success with their touring Christian puppet show and are subsequently offered a TV series, which they eventually quit to launch their own TV network – Praise the Lord (PTL). By the ’70s, they were two of the most recognisable and popular televangelists in America – but it all came crashing down in the late ’80s.

The film, directed by Michael Showalter, is a conventional, by-the-numbers biopic that essentially hits all the big moments on their Wikipedia pages. I still found it fascinating and illuminating because I didn’t know them or their story, but I’m sure it won’t offer much to those who have seen the documentary or have some knowledge of the Bakkers.

It doesn’t get under the skin of the characters so I didn’t come away feeling like I knew them in any real, deep way. I wanted to know who they were, why they did what they did and how they really felt about it but the film glosses over all that. It also deprived us of the nitty-gritty details surrounding the scandal!

It’s still worth a watch simply for Chastain’s transformative performance. Tammy Faye was known and often ridiculed for the amount of make-up she liked to cake on and this increased as she got older so Chastain is almost unrecognisable towards the end. She goes through a variety of wigs, prosthetics, cosmetics and clothes and I must admit that sometimes I was focused more on what she looked like than what was happening in a scene! The hair, make-up and costume departments did terrific work here though.

Ignoring the superficial side, Chastain still does a good job navigating the emotional rollercoaster Tammy Faye goes on. Tammy Faye produced many Christian albums so Chastain also had to sing like her and talk in her almost-squeaky Minnesota voice. Garfield, who is on a fantastic streak, is equally impressive as the charming and captivating showman who gradually puts the success of their empire above their marriage and morals.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye may not dig deep enough into the lead characters or the scandal but it’s very watchable thanks to the eye-opening true story and central performances.

On Disney+ from Wednesday 23rd March