The Grace Card 2011

Tom Long, Detroit News: As stiff as it is sincere. Read more

Mike Hale, New York Times: The plot twists, involving a shooting, a kidney donation and an 11th-hour apology, are melodramatic even by TV standards. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Its screenplay is mostly second-rate soap opera and its direction plodding, with many scenes held, awkwardly, longer than they need to be. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A low-budget Christian indie that just clears the runway on the sincerity of its performances and inclusiveness of its message. Read more

Kate Shellnut, Houston Chronicle: Movie goers likely will look over The Grace Card's entertainment value to focus on this simple prescription for how to gracefully love your neighbor. Read more

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: Despite its lapse into melodrama, this faith-based drama is surprisingly effective. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Such over-the-top emotional extravagance that even Cecil B. DeMille in his silent period might not have been able to get away with it. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The movie amounts to a cinematic sermon that, like many of those given in houses of worship, has a good-hearted message that will be difficult to deliver to a snoozing audience. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's OK to put out a movie with a message. But rendering even potentially dramatic stories so inoffensive that they bear no relation to reality makes for middling drama. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Steeped in Christian tenets of forgiveness, brotherhood, and prayer, and rife with earnest platitudes about race and family, The Grace Card is one overwrought piece of work. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The filmmakers seem more interested in coddling the converted than ministering to sinners. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Blessed with fine performances, credible dialogue and slick production values that belie a reportedly paltry budget, The Grace Card ranks among the better religious-themed indies released in recent years. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: This Christian-themed domestic melodrama uses race as cheap window dressing for easily digestible bromides and a conclusion as foregone as a Family Circus panel. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: "The Grace Card" is a Christian drama about a racist cop and his gospel-preaching partner who . . . hey, wait a second. Where are you going? Read more