We wouldn’t be through the spring movie season without seeing 1 or 2 faith based films. The movies vary wildly in quality, usually depending on how pandering the movie is at the expense of its story. Breakthrough is a further push toward quality filmmaking for these films, pushing the genre forward after last year’s solid I Can Only Imagine.
Like all faith based films so far, Breakthrough is about overcoming peril through Jesus. The family in peril in this film is the conveniently Americanly named Smith family: Joyce (Chrissy Metz), Brian (Josh Lucas), and their adopted son John (Marcel Ruiz) from Missouri. The family is in the middle of growing pains, as John has entered his teenage rebellion, and a new pastor at church (Topher Grace) is doubling Joyce’s day to day irritability. That irritability turns to panic when John, playing on thin ice, falls into the water for a VERY long time. He’s eventually pulled out, but has to be kept in an induced coma by Dr. Garrett (Dennis Haysbert). Confronted with their son’s mortality, Joyce and Brian have to figure out how far their faith in God goes.
Look, the message in movies like Breakthrough always comes first, however it does or does not serve the story it is telling. That being said, this film delivers that message in more complex ways than expected. I went in expecting Joyce to act like the arm of God as an avenging angel, chastising anyone who doesn’t believe like she does. Even though she does accost some of the awful doctors, it is Brian who turns the tables on Joyce, pointing out most of these medical practitioners are working as hard as they can, while she is projecting her loss of control onto the situation. More surprisingly, doctor’s advice isn’t scoffed at, it is used in conjunction with her belief system, a rare moment in one of these films where science isn’t seen as the enemy. Topher Grace also surprises here, playing against type as the empathetic Pastor Jason Noble. Grace takes the stereotypes of the character and finds the character underneath, showcasing his understanding of his churchgoing public and when to reach out/pull back for help.
Not every subplot (the one with Mike Colter’s firefighter) goes somewhere helpful, but there are more hits than misses in Breakthrough. For films about faith in God, that’s another win, and another push in the right direction towards compelling storytelling with a solid message. Kudos to the casting department too; I hadn’t seen Josh Lucas in a while, glad to see he’s still out there throwing 100.