This is a so-called "Christian movie." While that theme is certainly woven into the entire movie, I'd prefer addressing this simply as "a movie" because for it to work as a "Christian movie," it has to work first as a movie.
The characters are weak and, for the most part, one dimensional. There's Grace, the lead, who has been the "good girl" who accompanies her dad playing music at their church. But as she grows up, she wants to find her own voice and rebels--first by changing the performance, then by moving away to start her own career.
There's the dad--a "one hit wonder" a number of years ago who got involved in drugs and alcohol, nearly died, then found religion, which saved him. He doesn't want to return to the performing world, and he doesn't want Grace to get into it.
There's the mom--a weak, very one-dimensional character who supports her husband but sympathizes with what Grace is going through.
There's the song promoter who'd helped turn dad into a star years before, and now wants to work the same magic on Grace.
There's the handsome young star who, it turns out, is just using Grace.
There's the "normal" guy who works to get Grace back on the right path.
******************* The only character I found interesting was the dad and his story--with lots of unanswered questions about his pre-reborn life. Grace is just a rebellious teen. Mom contributes nothing. The song promoter is helping lure Grace into the world of depravity. The handsome young star is a cardboard cutout. And the "normal" guy is tediously "preachy"--not in a good way.
The tension between Grace and dad is overblown. Rebellious daughter and strict dad. Dad who has seen the real world and knows its dangers versus naive daughter. That gets tedious fast.
The plot uses too many shortcuts. The dad's past with drugs and alcohol is fairly well described. There's an attempt to show Grace falling into the same pattern. But it's done very quickly and artificially--she's having difficulty writing a song and through quick cuts we see her drinking, frustrated, drinking more, etc.
Another example: Grace makes a video--kind of a typical music video. Her dad--who apparently earlier didn't see any real talent in her--is absolutely blown away by her performance. That's the game-changer. All from one video.
The "normal guy's" character is preachy and not really helpful. He sees Grace going through her difficulties, but the only thing he does is repeatedly urge her to read a book on Christianity. Over and over. He doesn't talk to her. His parents don't do anything; there was a good opportunity for the movie to show the parents as a substitute normal family who could help Grace.
************************** As far as casting, I think AJ Michalka was miscast. She just didn't work as a pretty, naive 18-year-old daughter of a musical minister. Her acting was acceptable (considering the clunky script) but she was just the wrong person. "Dad" struck me as a bit young. The record promoter worked, but on a larger level everyone else in the story (all the good people, at least) are clean, smiling, eager. The record promoter was a cross between Danny DeVito and Quasimodo. We could tell the moment we saw him that he wasn't a good Christian.
********************************* A final point: The movie borrows a lot from others, then just puts its own spin on it. At least a dozen times, I heard the same lines as I'd heard in movies from a few years earlier, repurposed for "Grace Unplugged." ********************************* I've gone on long enough. The point, again, is that this isn't a very good movie. The writing is sledge-hammerish, the characters aren't well-developed, the plotting is unrealistic, and it's just not engaging. If the goal, though, is "Christian first, movie second," then it may be worth a view. But I'm sure there are better representations of the genre.
The characters are weak and, for the most part, one dimensional. There's Grace, the lead, who has been the "good girl" who accompanies her dad playing music at their church. But as she grows up, she wants to find her own voice and rebels--first by changing the performance, then by moving away to start her own career.
There's the dad--a "one hit wonder" a number of years ago who got involved in drugs and alcohol, nearly died, then found religion, which saved him. He doesn't want to return to the performing world, and he doesn't want Grace to get into it.
There's the mom--a weak, very one-dimensional character who supports her husband but sympathizes with what Grace is going through.
There's the song promoter who'd helped turn dad into a star years before, and now wants to work the same magic on Grace.
There's the handsome young star who, it turns out, is just using Grace.
There's the "normal" guy who works to get Grace back on the right path.
******************* The only character I found interesting was the dad and his story--with lots of unanswered questions about his pre-reborn life. Grace is just a rebellious teen. Mom contributes nothing. The song promoter is helping lure Grace into the world of depravity. The handsome young star is a cardboard cutout. And the "normal" guy is tediously "preachy"--not in a good way.
The tension between Grace and dad is overblown. Rebellious daughter and strict dad. Dad who has seen the real world and knows its dangers versus naive daughter. That gets tedious fast.
The plot uses too many shortcuts. The dad's past with drugs and alcohol is fairly well described. There's an attempt to show Grace falling into the same pattern. But it's done very quickly and artificially--she's having difficulty writing a song and through quick cuts we see her drinking, frustrated, drinking more, etc.
Another example: Grace makes a video--kind of a typical music video. Her dad--who apparently earlier didn't see any real talent in her--is absolutely blown away by her performance. That's the game-changer. All from one video.
The "normal guy's" character is preachy and not really helpful. He sees Grace going through her difficulties, but the only thing he does is repeatedly urge her to read a book on Christianity. Over and over. He doesn't talk to her. His parents don't do anything; there was a good opportunity for the movie to show the parents as a substitute normal family who could help Grace.
************************** As far as casting, I think AJ Michalka was miscast. She just didn't work as a pretty, naive 18-year-old daughter of a musical minister. Her acting was acceptable (considering the clunky script) but she was just the wrong person. "Dad" struck me as a bit young. The record promoter worked, but on a larger level everyone else in the story (all the good people, at least) are clean, smiling, eager. The record promoter was a cross between Danny DeVito and Quasimodo. We could tell the moment we saw him that he wasn't a good Christian.
********************************* A final point: The movie borrows a lot from others, then just puts its own spin on it. At least a dozen times, I heard the same lines as I'd heard in movies from a few years earlier, repurposed for "Grace Unplugged." ********************************* I've gone on long enough. The point, again, is that this isn't a very good movie. The writing is sledge-hammerish, the characters aren't well-developed, the plotting is unrealistic, and it's just not engaging. If the goal, though, is "Christian first, movie second," then it may be worth a view. But I'm sure there are better representations of the genre.