Well, Jessica Chastain was great at least. Actually, overall, this wasn't the worst biopic I've seen, though it was far from the best.
Here, she shines as Tammy Faye, who grows up stigmatized from her religious family as she's a product of her mother's short-lived first marriage (great to punish the children for the parents' mistakes), but she falls in love with Jesus nevertheless and then, in college, Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield), who has good intentions, at first, and she's super supportive, for far too long.
And they make it big, bigger than even Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds), but while Tammy's message is simplier, she loves everyone because that's what Jesus and church taught her, Jim is more focused on money, doing horrible things along the way, even making Tammy apologize for cheating on him (barely cheating, by my definition) on the air while all of his affairs (some of which may or may not have been the most consensual) are swept under the rug, until Jerry Falwell, Sr (Vincent D'Onofrio) wants them gone and all of Jim's shady business dealings are brought to light.
Still, while charges are never brought against Tammy, surely, she must have known that Jim's ideas and ways of earning money for his own TV station weren't exactly above board and she spent money like a bandit, and enjoyed pampering herself with her long nails and make-up caked on her face though at least she keeps her sense of humor about it. And this film certainly portrays her as a victim, accidentally discovering that her husband might be a homosexual (which is later confirmed) and he isn't exactly sympathetic when she's suffering from post-pardon depression. And while she encourages her husband to break free from Pat and Jerry, he never fully does, he plays into the politics of TV religion while she doesn't completely, feeling that everyone deserves love, even if it goes against the Republican agenda. So, while she's portrayed as the hero, I can't help but feeling like the screenplay didn't tell the audience the whole truth.
That being said, Chastain and Garfield are fantastic despite the heavy make-up and I had to see what would happen so at least the film kept my attention. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Chastain ages marvelously from bright-eyed college teenager to a woman in her early fifties and does so effortlessly which is no small feat.
-Garfield pulls off two great albeit vastly performances in 2021.
-Tammy announces her first pregnancy to Jim on air of their religious puppet show, which must have been horribly awkward.
-Tammy's nails are so long that she has to use a nail file to open her precious cans of Diet Coke, and yes, she is addicted to Coke.
-Cherry Jones is somewhat miscast as Chastain's mother.
-The film has Tammy's water breaking when she's masturbating against another man (Mark Wystrach), but one who actually appreciates her fully, unlike Jim.
-According to Wikipedia, Jim was released from prison, remarried and then adopted five children, who decided that was a good idea? Not rhetorical, I want names.
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