Video Viper: Fireproof

KIRK CAMERON saves a girl in a housefire in "Fireproof."

‘Fireproof’ not a hot film, poorly made

KIRK CAMERON saves a girl in a housefire in "Fireproof."

I’m open minded about films, so when I heard about a quality movie called “Fireproof,” with Christian undertones, I decided to give it a view.

Often films with Christian themes are poorly made, with bad production values and schmaltzy storylines. Those films depend on those who are believers who will forgive mediocrity because the films jive well with their core beliefs.

So I delved into “Fireproof” only to discover a movie with bad production values and a schmaltzy storyline.

Kirk Cameron, who grew up acting in the TV series “Growing Pains,” plays a firefighter who has ample opportunities to play the hero.

But he doesn’t help around the house and his wife, played by Erin Bethea, has a busy career and doesn’t want to handle the entire load.

Seemingly innocuous situations result in major shouting matches which seem to take place more to advance the plot than to look realistic.

And no matter how angry they get, we hear nothing that hints of an obscenity. This must be a religious film.

The film opens with a firefighter being admonished for leaving his partner while battling a fire. “You never leave your partner — especially during a fire,” he’s told.

Somehow, we know that phrase will pop up again.

You can tell this movie was made on the cheap. In one scene, two sets of teen-agers in two cars are going to race down the street.

Next scene: A call comes in to the fire station of a crash caused by teens racing. Filming an actual crash apparently cost too much money.

The film does build some suspense in a few scenes. After the crash, a girl is trapped and her car has landed on the railroad tracks and the dispatcher can’t get ahold of the train dispatcher. Soon a train comes barreling down the tracks.

There are also some moments of suspense when the Cameron character rushes into a house to rescue an unconscious girl. When the room fills with smoke and fire and he can’t get out, the Cameron character uses his ax to chop through the floor into the basement where he eventually gets out.

The external views of the house make it look like one of those homes used for fire training with fake flames and smoke.

But in the hospital, as he’s being treated, his wife, a nurse, walks by. She seems unusual cold and callous to her hero husband who minutes before could have died.

Yes, it looks like the pair are headed for divorce. But the Cameron character seeks advice from his dad.

Dad, played by Harris Malcom, takes him for a walk in the park and talks about a 40-day experiment called “the Love Dare” which puts the marriage in the hands of God.

And would you believe as they talk, they stop in front of a giant cross? What a coincidence!

Much of the acting rivals a high school production and the preachiness gets thicker and thicker as the movie goes on.

There is a twist at the end of this bland film, but nothing that amounts to anything.

Oh yeah, and ENDING ALERT, they don’t divorce and end up standing in front of the cross (which by the way is near the park where Dad lives, which he says is four hours away. So after they save their marriage, they drive four hours to look at a cross.)

Cameron today is a Christian evangelist and won’t kiss any woman but his wife, not even for a movie. So in a scene where he has to kiss his movie wife, they have to use his real wife in the shadow.

If you are like me, when the film concludes, you will say, “God, I’m glad that’s over.”