As far as unconventional cultural icons go, there are few more legendary than the woman who carried the surnames Bakker and Messner at different points in her life, but is most lovingly known by the name Tammy Faye. Starting out as the obedient, god-fearing wife of a hedonistic televangelist, and eventually turning into something of a counter-culture icon, whose work with marginalized communities went against the religious conventions that she was supposed to adhere to as a good, Christian woman, Tammy Faye was a fascinating individual who has often been subjected to various interpretations, whether it be hard-hitting investigations into the personal lives of her and her husband while they were at their peak of fame, or the countless parodies designed to draw attention to how this beloved couple not only fell from grace, but momentarily became global laughingstocks as a result of some bad decisions. This is all the foundation for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a charming and endearing film that combines biographical drama and satirical dark comedy in a way that we should have come to expect from someone like director Michael Showalter, who has told many stories, absolutely none of them nearly as outwardly bizarre as that of Tammy Faye, and her experiences in a cutthroat industry built on deception and manipulation, and her efforts to supposedly rise above these morally perilous situations to be a woman of virtue, even if there were very clear flaws, even within someone as supposedly principled and open-hearted as her. Showalter and screenwriter Abe Sylvia convincingly portray her journey over roughly three decades, showing her rise and fall, and everything in between, all of which makes for quite an endearing and captivating biographical film about a truly unique subject.

As far as unconventional cultural icons go, there are few more legendary than the woman who carried the surnames Bakker and Messner at different points in her life, but is most lovingly known by the name Tammy Faye. Starting out as the obedient, god-fearing wife of a hedonistic televangelist, and eventually turning into something of a counter-culture icon, whose work with marginalized communities went against the religious conventions that she was supposed to adhere to as a good, Christian woman, Tammy Faye was a fascinating individual who has often been subjected to various interpretations, whether it be hard-hitting investigations into the personal lives of her and her husband while they were at their peak of fame, or the countless parodies designed to draw attention to how this beloved couple not only fell from grace, but momentarily became global laughingstocks as a result of some bad decisions. This is all the foundation for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a charming and endearing film that combines biographical drama and satirical dark comedy in a way that we should have come to expect from someone like director Michael Showalter, who has told many stories, absolutely none of them nearly as outwardly bizarre as that of Tammy Faye, and her experiences in a cutthroat industry built on deception and manipulation, and her efforts to supposedly rise above these morally perilous situations to be a woman of virtue, even if there were very clear flaws, even within someone as supposedly principled and open-hearted as her. Showalter and screenwriter Abe Sylvia convincingly portray her journey over roughly three decades, showing her rise and fall, and everything in between, all of which makes for quite an endearing and captivating biographical film about a truly unique subject.

From the outset, the most important note that has to be made is that The Eyes of Tammy Faye is the rare kind of biographical drama that is somehow simultaneously sympathetic to its central subject, showing nothing but compassion and reverence for her, but also not willing to gloss over her flaws, being just as prodding into her personal lives as they are the other characters, who are barely given much of the same empathetic portrayal as the titular character. For some, this may indicate the film refusing to stake a particular claim, or choose a specific side over the other, genuinely seeming to believe that it can look at both objectively, while still affording the subject the respect she deserves. In many ways, this seems to be the case for most of the film, and while it may not always work out in the way they clearly intended, there is a lot of merit in how the creators of this film approached the nuances of Tammy Faye’s life, which is much more complex than the bite-sized chunks of her life that we’ve encountered in the past, which were nearly always pitched to the level of making her seem like this grand dame of the queer community, an ally who broke free from the shackles of the oppressive church in order to become this fearless defender of those who desperately needed as many powerful voices on their side as they could get. However, this doesn’t mean that The Eyes of Tammy Faye is entirely free of fault, and there are numerous moments where the film was fueled by ambitious intentions, but fell slightly short of grasping exactly what it set out to achieve – it can’t entirely be discredited, since it at least puts in the effort to give it a fair attempt (even if it didn’t work), and chose to be subversive rather than playing it safe and being a conventional biographical drama, but there are times where we yearn for something more cohesive, at least in terms of reaching the potential that was clearly within reach.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye was desperately in need of a stronger director – Showalter is by no means incompetent or an unworthy artist in his own right, but there is something about this story that required someone who could lean into the camp aspects of the main character’s life. The director has dipped his toes into absurdism before, having been one of the creative minds behind the work of the comedy troupe Stella, as well as working on a range of films and television shows that had the cutting-edge tone that we’d naturally hope to get from a biographical account of the rise and fall of Jim and Tammy Faye. However, the problem is that the director seems to be taking this subject more seriously than anyone else – with the exception of a few key scenes that are masterful in how they blend surrealism and scathing satire (the montage set to “Jesus Keeps Takin’ Me Higher and Higher” is a masterful example of contemporary absurdism in motion), the story is played relatively straight, without much attention being paid to the more unconventional aspects of Taye Faye’s life. This film was yearning for the magical touch of the likes of John Waters or Christopher Guest, directors who have an understanding of both form and content, and how even the most straightforward stories can be subjected to some well-composed oddities on occasion. This isn’t to discredit Showalter, but rather to point to the main flaw of the film – The Eyes of Tammy Faye is quite simply a film that takes itself too seriously, which would be fine if it wasn’t centred around the life and times of one of the most notoriously eccentric women of the past few decades. There was something vitally missing from this film, and I don’t think the final product was made by individuals who were all that intent on putting in the effort to find it, which is why it ultimately falls victim to the same cliches that have often plagued such films.

However, there is one aspect of The Eyes of Tammy Faye that keeps it afloat, and it is mercifully the most integral part of it – Jessica Chastain, who single-handedly salvages the film and makes it special. Her performance is quite extraordinary – perhaps it isn’t her best work (but that remains to be seen – this is the kind of portrayal that takes some time to fully unpack, and we’ll only know if this was one of her peaks once some distance has been formed between the audience and the film), but it is certainly one of her most spirited efforts. The amount of work she puts into playing the titular character is beyond admirable – had the film itself risen to the impeccable level at which Chastain is operating, there is very little doubt it would’ve been vastly superior. She captures the spirit of Tammy Faye with incredible fervency and a kind of forthright honesty that we don’t often see from actors of her stature. She commits entirely to the role, and is almost entirely the reason behind the film’s success, and the primary reason it has been as modestly well-received as it has. This isn’t to dismiss the wonderful work being done by Andrew Garfield (who plays a gloriously demented and morally corrupt man whose snarling charm is as unsettling as it is hilarious) and Cherry Jones, who is an absolute scene-stealer as the long-suffering mother of the main character, and who only wants her daughter to make the right choice for a change, rather than just taking everything at face value. While his work may vary tonally, Showalter has always been exceptionally competent at drawing out great performances from his actors, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye provides him with a strong cast, and in return he gives them the space to develop interesting, nuanced characters that feel extremely well-formed, perhaps more than the film around them, which could’ve benefitted from the same discerning efforts.

Somehow, The Eyes of Tammy Faye manages to be both conventional and subversive, often at the exact same time – there are moments where it genuinely feels like it is amounting to something special and unique, but then rapidly falls back into the same trite set of cliches that are all too often used to cushion such biographical dramas, many of which depend on strict adherence to a particular pattern to be considered successful. The film is far from a failure, and even just referring to it as disappointing seems oddly inappropriate, since there is something much more interesting simmering below the surface, it just doesn’t get explored to the extent it perhaps should, which isn’t really a reason to criticize the film or the people behind its creation, but rather an observation that hints at the fact that there was a lot of potential with this material. Understandably, Showalter and Sylvia had constraints – The Eyes of Tammy Faye was based on a well-received documentary that was already a definitive text on the main character, and thus they couldn’t expand too far on her story, since there really wasn’t much that hadn’t been said many times already. They also couldn’t dig too deep into the sordid details behind Jim Bakker’s empire, as he is still alive and notably litigious, and any attempt to sensationalize these events further would’ve been seen as a major risk. Ultimately, The Eyes of Tammy Faye has limits, and while nothing was necessarily stopping it from exceeding them in the places where artistic liberty were allowed (and the director doesn’t squander every opportunity in this regard – there are some very impressive techniques used in this film), as a whole, it strove to be a charming and informative glimpse into the life of an individual whose life was a whirlwind of triumphs and scandals, and it manages to look beyond the makeup and eccentric public persona, taking a deep look at the woman beneath the veneer, in a touching and captivating biographical drama that offers us meaningful insights that keep us engaged, even when the film itself could’ve been vastly improved by succumbing to the same off-the-wall eccentricity as the subject it so clearly adores and reveres.