Sunday School Musical

 

“Sunday School Musical”

A Review of One Week Away by Nick Olszyk

 

Distribution Service: Netflix

Year: 2021

MPAA Rating, TV-PG

USCCB Rating, Not rated at the time of this review

Reel Rating, Two Reels            

 

            Seven years after Pureflix’s smash hit God’s Not Dead, Netflix is finally getting into the faith-based film business, and, like the aforementioned Christian company, it’s off to a rocky start. One Week Away takes several well-established teenage film tropes, tosses them together with several musical numbers, throws in a dash of accidental spiritual content, then serves it up with the hope of attracting a good portion of the 35% of Americans who identify as evangelical Christians. Netflix has created some masterful productions, and I sincerely hope they don’t abandon the genre, but this movie is a dish will satisfy few.

            Will (Kevin Quinn) is the typical “bad boy ripe for change.” His crimes include stealing a police car for a joyride, resisting arrest, and occasionally having his heartthrob haircut slightly out of line – nothing like murder, rape, or arson. He is given one last chance to step in line or he’ll be put “into the system” which is odd as he just ran away from his fifth or sixth foster home. To this end, he agrees to attend a one-week Christian summer retreat, Camp Aweegaway (get it?). He meets Avery (Bailee Madison), the beautiful yet broken daughter of the Camp’s pastor/director. Think a brunette Mandy Moore. The two fall in love until, inevitably, his past is revealed. Will her Christian upbringing lead her to forgive the man she loves? Will he put aside his wild ways to settle down with the girl next door? Will they run into the woods to sing of these questions while the camera circles around them at an accelerated pace? I think you already know the answer.

            A Week Away was marketed on one unique selling point: it was a faith-based musical. There have, however, been other musicals that featured faith, including Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables, and The Sound of Music, which are among the finest pictures of all time. Yet, there has not been a Christian musical manufactured specifically for Generations Y/Z in the vein of High School Musical or Hairspray. Sadly, this prominent feature is its weakest element. When I saw Hamilton on Disney+ for the first time, I had several songs stuck in my head for weeks, yet minutes after finishing A Week Away, I could not name one song I had just heard over the course of the last two hours. They were all bland and written specifically to fit the goings-on of the scene. There was the “Welcome to Camp” song where everyone but Will danced and sang of fun in store. There was the “I’m too Akward to Talk to Her/Him” duet and the “The No One Will Love Me” power ballad climax. It wasn’t bad, just forgettable, which, for a musical, is probably worse.

            Another disappointment was the treatment of faith. Religion, much less Christian theology, is a bare bones add-on, relegated to a few phrases rather than an organic part of the narrative. This is a spirituality that was typical of 90s dramas like Touched by Angel or 7^th Heaven that is largely emotional. The audience is told to trust in God, forgive, and love one another, but there is no mention of sin or salvation. There was at least one Bible verse mentioned but barely any prayer and certainly no liturgical services. It hard to say why explicit religiosity is so largely absent, but I suspect came from an attempt to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible, not embarrassment of theme. It is usually better to narrow one’s focus rather than broaden the narrative. For example, Menashe was a 2017 movie about a Hasidic Jewish single father that was filmed in Yiddish with non-professional actors, yet dads of all stripes could understand the man’s struggle juggling fatherhood and faith.

            Fortunately, A Week Away is not a total loss. The younger actors in the film, mostly newcomers, have such a palpable sense of joy and dedication that it nearly makes up for the paltry writing. Bailee Madison is the closest thing the film has to name recognition, with a string of strong presentations in Bridge to Terabithia and Once Upon a Time. Her magnificent performance bears all the hallmarks of a young child actresses blossoming into a stellar adult career. Kevin Quinn is the closet thing the film has to a professional musician, having spent most of his career in regional musical theater. He doesn’t quite have the star quality of Zac Efron but is a better singer. My personal favorites were Jahbril Cook and Kat Sterling as the geeky sidekicks of the main duo. Of course, Will has a nerdy black friend, and, of course, effortlessly gorgeous Avery has the ugly duckling perpetual bridesmaid. Yet again, these annoying stereotypes are made less vexing by the strong chemistry between the actors.

            A Week Away does not fit well in any niche. Its cliché characters and overly eager mannerisms will annoy its target teen audience, and adults will find it downright silly. Christians will think it insincere. Non-Christians will say it “tries too hard.” Yet, even a mediocre film that celebrates love, life, and the goodness of the Lord is light years ahead of most mainstream fare. Unfortunately, the sincerity of actors must belt out pretty loud to over come a screenplay that is horrendously offkey.

This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on March 28th, 2021.